by Pam Uphoff
The natives watched in fascination as Nelson donned his harness and zipped up and down the nearly vertical inner wall of the crater. Havi, the boy, was six years old, with black hair and striking honey gold eyes. When Nelson brought samples up, the boy was literally jumping up and down. "Can I do that?"
"No." Dydit was very firm, and he switched his severe gaze from the boy to the girl. Blue eyes, blonde hair, outdoor tan. Cuter than hell. "And not you eithah."
Nelson didn't know anything about children, but these two seemed to be well behaved. They'd picked up the language differences at light speed. He took a small rock drill down to the very bottom. The lake surface was lower than the almost vertical walls, and he waded out far enough, he hoped, to get some samples from the sediments and rock filling the crater bottom.
Levty and the kids were delighted to accept a ride in the gyp, sitting stiff and awkwardly in the back where the scouts usually rode when they weren't on foot. Dydit harnessed two of their horses to the red and yellow wagon and followed more slowly
Their easy communications broke down over the bridge. They just looked puzzled. "Burge. Yes. Is Burge."
"Who made it?"
They exchanged looks. "May jek."
"Is May Jek a person or a group?" Nelson asked.
They looked baffled. "May jek?"
Roxy frowned over her shoulder, and rubbed her eyes. "Damn weird light reflections, you don't suppose they mean magic do you? They are primitive enough to still believe in magic."
"Ah, that must be it. So they haven't any idea who made the bridge."
Dudit had a bit of a coughing fit then, and Nelson suddenly wondered about illnesses. He'd never been on a planet that was completely void of vaccinations. There was no telling how sick these people could be, or if they were 'carriers' of something nasty.
"Let's get going. If we push it, we might get home in a day."
Dudit drove over the bridge, but refused to go any further. Apparently the horses couldn't travel any further in a day. Finally he unharnessed them and turned all four animals loose, and released a cage full of chickens. Then he stepped up on the back of the gyp, behind the kids. "Hokay. Now we can goo."
One day proved to be a bit optimistic, even with the trail already made passable. But they got back to the gate camp by noon the second day.
Lon Hackathorn met them, with the doctor and the head of the biology unit. Nelson's lab assistant sidled up to take his rock samples. Feeling responsible for the poor natives, Nelson sent him off and followed Levty, Dudit, and the kids into the examination room.
Dudit and Levty were quite compliant, looking wide eyed at everything as they got a thorough physical exam.
Rustle and Havi were more wiggly, asked questions about everything, and Rustle kept quoting various Native authorities. Her mother said this, Lady Giselle said that, and Lady Giselle and the Old Wolf had made magical potions to cure everything. Apparently a herbologist, so to speak, and some sort of Shaman.
"No, they're gods," the girl looked at him impatiently.
Nelson touched his lips uncertainly. Had he said that out loud? He snorted in amusement as he realized the absurdity. It wasn't like she could read his mind.
The kids got squirmy and Dudit, who was apparently their father, got a bit over protective. Lon ordered the doctors to keep the kids' exams brief.
But all four got vaccinations for everything.
Lon winced at that. "I forgot about naive immune systems. Good thing they came back with you Nelson."
"Our immune systems are excellent." Rustle informed him. "Lady Gisele knows all about them."
"We don't get sick." Havi told the doctor. "That's what animals do."
"That's a strange way to apply a potion." Rustle peered in interest as the injector hissed against her arm.
The compact med center got a thorough work out, and Nelson heard the biologist muttering about wanting some esoteric equipment under her breath.
"They're so healthy it's scary." Doctor Dee Odessa pronounced. "Not a cavity in their mouths, vision is noticeably better than normal, no parasites or arterial plaque, a few old scars, but excellent healing under them, and even the scars are pretty faint, no keloidal buildup. A quick Genechip found all the markers for modern human."
Havi scrunched up his nose and whispered (loudly) to Rustle. "They think we're dogs."
"No, goats."
"Mahhhh!" They both chimed in then giggled about it. They put their heads together in the corner and Nelson couldn't hear anything but the occasional giggle. They made him nervous, and they'd picked up modern Merican in just a few hours of talking to him and the scouts.
"I'll do an in-depth analysis and see if there are variations that might show when they split from the rest of the human race. That should confirm the thirteen thousand year split, unless Lon's silly theory is right." Rae Galina, the biologist was busy with a computer.
"How can you tell that?" Nelson asked.
Galina smirked. "Statistical analysis of the alleles—the versions of each gene—should tell us their origin, and how many single nucleotide replacements they've accumulated since then gives us a good estimate of how long ago. We've been sampling plants and animals, comparing them with their equivalents on other worlds. They are falling into two groups. One group, most of the plants, the antelopes, the rodents and about three quarters of the birds, seem to have split about thirteen thousand years ago. The other group, one or two thousand. We figure the dimensional split was at the thirteen thousand year point. Something that happened at the end of the last ice age, possibly an asteroid strike. Then your asteroid hit about two thousand years ago. So once we get an in-depth analysis, we'll either have the descendants of the last ice age early human cultures, or we'll have to cede ground to Lon's pet theory."
"They speak a variety of English. The split from Earth—or colonization—must have been post AD 1500. And more likely close to a millennia later. And the bolide was a comet. It hit one thousand twenty-three years ago." Nelson looked sure.
Lon wasn't the only one who glanced upward. "A comet. That's a bit unsettling, with four visible comets in the sky. I think I need an astronomer and telescope."
Nelson nodded. "Didn't think about that. Yeah."
The doctor frowned. "Well, the crater is a fact. Physical and oral memory are close enough in date—I expect they lost a bit of time—your rock dating will probably pin the times down closer. But other than the language . . . well, we'll see what the detailed analysis of their gene maps tell us. I wish we had more samples." Dee shrugged. "Like it or not, they came from somewhere that spoke an English derived language. Lon's certainly hot on the Early Diaspora theory."
The adult natives had been quiet through all of this, and Nelson suddenly wondered how much of it they understood. Poor lost primitives. Their whole culture, their society, their world was about to get royally screwed by a superior culture.
Well, he'd brought them here, so they were sort his responsibility. "How about some dinner?" He spoke clearly and distinctly, gesturing them out of the medical trailer.
***
After a rather disgusting meal, Lefty led the others up on a hill to look around, and have a private discussion.
"Insufferable assholes. Thank the old gods they're so completely blind." Lefty said, apparently studying the sunset. Never and Question were exploring the camp, invisibly. Rustle and Havi started rolling down the far side of the hill.
"I really thought you were going to paste our old buddy Nelson when he tried to tell us that it didn't bother him a bit that we fucked each other." Dydit snorted. "Where the Hell did they get that idea?"
"From their machines," Question spoke from thin air. "They had a meeting and showed all their pictures. The first one was of Dydit and Never, from the back, sitting with their arms around each other. I think it must have been right after you finished the bridge."
"Pity they missed the bridge building," Dydit growled, looking around carefully.
"
They mistook me for Never, even from the back?" Lefty fiddled with his braid. "I'm going to have to start cutting my hair like an officer." Like most Veronans, he was an over all tawny, hair, skin and eyes. Never was several shades lighter in the hair and darker in the skin. But sitting, from the back, the braid would probably be the main distinguishing feature.
"You are an officer."
"That wasn't my idea."
"But it means they don't suspect there are more than two of us, so that's actually good news."
"Never is still in the meeting. She figured we'd better keep track of them," Question appeared, lounging on the hillside away from the camp. "Apparently they're making a report and sending it to their superiors in a few weeks."
Dydit curled a lip. "And how long will that take? I'll bet it involves more of those, 'e lec tron ics, better than magic' machines of theirs. I don't suppose you'd like to play with them, Question?"
"I'd like to get a look at that building at the end of the long empty street," Lefty said. "It's one they didn't show us, and it's quite prominently placed."
"We'll keep an eye on it," Question said. "Now don't you two forget that they are picking up our language rather quickly too, so don't get into the habit of chattering away like they aren't there, same as they do."
"Right."
Dydit flinched as something invisible tickled his ear. "No fair. Bet you've got a headache."
"A beaut. Is it dark enough to let it go?"
Dydit nodded. "If you get on the far side of me and stay low. Lefty and I have declined their offers of beds."
"You ought to have nabbed the blankets though. You two didn't bring very much. Dydit may get cold." Question sounded a bit smug.
"If all else fails, we'll just start insulting each other, and we'll both get all hot about it." Never let her warp go. She stretched out on the grass just beyond Dydit's feet, tossing her pack and bedroll further down the hill. "Ah. That feels better. So, at what point do we say good bye and go tell King Rebo about these people?" The kids galloped uphill to hug her, then ran downhill, arms extended as if they were trying to fly.
"If they're making reports of their own, about us, we should wait until they have a reply. Then we can report whether our contacts are friendly, neutral or hostile." Lefty looked over his shoulder at the bright lights of the camp. "We already know what they think of strangers."
"For all the contempt, they aren't very heavily armed." Dydit frowned, thinking it out. "They weren't expecting us, and sort of scrambled for their weapons. If we'd been a pack of hungry wolves we'd of had them for dinner. But they are so used to 'natives' that they were automatically contemptuous."
"They must not be used to people fighting back. I wonder how they get away with their attitude. I wouldn't trade with them." Question scowled in the Earthers general direction.
Lefty shook his head. "Slave owners get like that. Contempt, pity, even liking, but cross them and they'll call in the muscle to beat you or kill you. When we leave they'll think we 'escaped' and send the war dogs. Bettcha a weeks worth of dish washing."
"Can we keep them?" Havi plunked down between Dydit and Never.
"Keep what?"
"The war dogs." Havi explained, patiently.
"No, they aren't the sort of dogs you can make pets out of." Never smiled. "Pity. So they think they've captured you four?"
Dydit nodded reluctantly. "I've seen people like that. Well, we'll just have to get a good head start on them."
Question snickered. "Probably family, right Duke?"
"My father. What a poisonous society that was. We didn't really have slaves. We were merely the worst employers imaginable. Don't tell Nil I'm utterly delighted to have been taken away from it all." Dydit had managed to scoot down hill enough to touch Never's hair. The poor man looked like he was trying to find the nerve to stroke it.
Lefty stifled his smirk. "So, we've got a week to study these people and give them more to add to their report. What do we want them to know about us? What do we need to find out about them?"
Never propped herself up on her elbow. "Magic. When you mentioned it as the cause of that bridge they were amused by your superstitious beliefs. They turned it into a joke, explaining their machines to you as magic. I haven't seen a thing to indicate they have any magical ability at all."
"You're right. They certainly knew the term, though. If they didn't have any magic they wouldn't have a word for it, would they?" Question frowned up at the sky. No clouds. The brightest stars were out now, as the sun sank below the horizon.
"You could make it rain on them, Aunt Question." Havi looked hopeful.
"I think not." Lefty hugged her. Just to show Dydit how it was done. "I think we'll not open their eyes. Let this first report underestimate us. Dydit, stop being so damn good with the language. We want them to keep talking in front of us, and we want them to not know about our invisible watchers. Can you two find a place to hide, so you don't bake your brains warping all the time?"
"Actually, we've got a great overview from here. Dydit, how about making a nice little cave, with peep holes out the camp side and a hidden exit down hill from here?" Never stood, staying low and headed down hill, away from the Earthers' camp. Dydit and the kids followed.
Lefty and Question moved close enough to camp to hear any alarms. Open windows carried voices. One of the women scientists was raving about the strongest gravity fluctuations yet, and what could possibly be causing it.
Question listened carefully, then stepped away, her whisper shaking with laughter. "Never, they're measuring Never tapping gravity to make the cave."
"Well, there's one indication that they don't know much about magic." Lefty kept his voice quiet as well.
"Look at that! Would you look at that? A full milligal." The woman sounded both excited and frustrated. "What the Hell can be causing it?"
"I had a bad thought." That sounded like Lon Hackathorn, Nelson's boss. "Could it be magma moving underground?"
There was a thoughtful pause. "I think you'd have earthquakes. I don't know if you'd get fluctuations like this even sitting on a volcano about to erupt."
"Is there any way to check for direction?"
"No . . . but, well, I might manage something. If I can calibrate them closely enough . . . Hmm. Now they've gone back to zero. Normal as can be." There was a thump, that Lefty rather hoped involved a head and a hard surface.
They faded back away from the light and over the hill. As usual, Never and Dydit had gone overboard. A concealed entrance, a long climbing hallway with three bedrooms off it. A nook with two kid sized bunks, a small kitchen and common room, and then up to the viewing gallery, a long room with slits looking out over not quite a complete panorama.
Question was reduced to giggles by the stone beds. "At least you didn't make stone pillows. The beds look like water troughs. I think I'll collect some nice soft grass to sleep on."
Dydit stared down at the beds. Sighed and walked away.
Lefty looked at Question. "You'd think when they were doing these semi-out-of-control building sprees their subconscious attraction would come through."
Question bit a knuckle to get her giggles under control. "There's nothing subconscious about their attraction. This is Dydit's terror coming through, I think. We get a great big bed, they get two narrow little cots. Poor Never. Who'd have thought she'd have to chase a man down and tackle him?"
"Who'd have thought Dydit would ever need to be chased down and tackled? I'd hate to meet the witch who scared him so badly he can't trust Never." Lefty looked around the observation room. "Well. This is a nice safe place to see everything that's going on."
Never nodded as she walked back in. "But we need to be down among them to hear them, most of the time. We may need to split up, and follow specific people around. Dibs on Lon."
Dydit snorted, somewhere down the corridor. "I think we need to listen in regularly to that healer and the . . . biologist. I don't understand half of what they were talking ab
out. What is a dimensional split? Where are these people from? We need to look for tracks tomorrow."
Lefty nodded. "I'll keep my eyes open for an opportunity to steal a map."
Havi perked up at that.
"Don't even think about it." Never frowned at the young pair. "Your jobs are to listen to them, find stuff out and tell us all about it." She winced a little. "You may sneak around, but please be careful around their machinery, especially those gyps. They aren't horses, that will at least try to step over you."
"I want to know all about the machinery." Question sighed. "Pity I'm one of the invisible ones."
"Right now, though, Lefty and I had better go hunting. We don't want them wondering where their food is going." Dydit headed down the hallway.
Lefty agreed and they headed out leaving Never and Question to turn the cave into some approximation of home.
The activity of the camp had chased the wildlife off a few miles. But for a pair of wizards, locating deer was a snap. The full moon had cleared the east ridge and gave plenty of light for a bit of stalking. Then a quick slice was all they needed to secure a hundred pounds of meat.
"And knowing those two they've got at least flour and dried fruit with them."
"I noticed Never had blankets." Dydit snorted. "I expect by the time we get back, they'll have us all sorted out."
"Flowers on the table, you think?"
"Hmm. That might be a bit much, even for them. But I'm sure they'll think they have us managed and civilized." Dydit hoisted the deer haunches over his shoulder and followed Lefty back to the cave.
Where a bowl of crisp greens and hot biscuits kept them busy while thin slices of venison grilled, and beds filled with grass awaited, and even Dydit had blankets.
"Unfortunately they didn't see you bring many extra clothes, so you're stuck wearing what you've got, every day. We'll try to wash them often enough that they don't notice you going from ultra filthy to almost presentable." Never eyed them and shook her head. "Starting now, so they don't wonder about the blood stains on your shoulder."
Dydit and Lefty swapped grins and allowed themselves to be managed. The kids were playing spy up in the observation room, hauling food up there to sustain themselves. When they stopped coming back, Dydit went up and returned with a sleeping Havi over his shoulder. "Rustle's got a piece of chalk. She's diagramming where every one lives and works."