T-47 Book II (Saxon Saga 6)

by Frederick Gerty

“Yeah. Natural serenade.”

  “They’ll go for hours, if not all night long.”

  “So will I,” Hunter said, as he began to undress her.

  “Oh, you will, will you?”

  “Yeah, I sure will,” he said, kissing her exposed nipples. “Or at least until you’ve had enough.”

  “Oh, goodie,” she said, closing her eyes to his warm touch.

  Lori enjoyed flying here and there on Luci, always fascinated by the varying view, hills, even mountains, all heavily wooded, to lift over, then to drop closer to lakes, small seas, expansive marshes, undulating plains of shrubs and grasses, hardly the same vegetation wherever they flew. She asked Hunter if he was bored, and he assured her he was not. But she worried he was, after all. Tarue stayed behind the second day, to barter and work on contracts, she said, and the kits remained with her the next. Good excuse for Tarue, Lori knew, and she couldn’t fault the kits for not going on yet another long flight, with no real destination, no beach to land on, no nice town to explore. The frequent passage storms, or Kali overhead, added to the exotic and strange flavor of the planet.

  The Anawoka saw little need for development, lived as they wished in the trees, feeding, sleeping, mating, rearing young, and gossiping among themselves in the manner they’d always done. That they could fly further, longer, and easier than they ever had before, thanks to Lori’s Saxon air cars, designed and built specifically for their physique and more fragile bones than those of the other races, did not mean they needed or wanted houses or garages. The air cars fit very nicely on upper canopy branches, or lower down on the towering, majestic trees, and were used mainly for longer trips to the spaceport, or the various small developments humans, Kobi, bigboys and Pokoniry built where they concentrated their mining or timber harvesting operations.

  “Man, it’s one big planet,” Hunter said the fourth day. “You trying to see all of it?”

  “No, but I’m enjoying seeing as much of it as I can. This is probably the furthest trip, haven’t been in this western quad yet, and it’s amazing.” She looked back at Hunter. “Wouldn’t you say?”

  He was taking photos of a winding canyon, descending out of hills with steep slopes, much exposed volcanic rock, and numerous streams, rivers and waterfalls. “I’d say. This would be immensely popular with any adventure travelers, explorers, rock climbers, or white water kayakers,” he said. “Maybe we should open an agency, bring people here, let them poke around to their hearts’ content, in totally new venues, with very few named features.”

  “Mmm, not by us,” Lori said, as she dropped into a fairly wide slot canyon, waterfalls falling from cliffs above her from time to time, splattering the air car with large, noisy droplets when she flew near. “But I bet the local have names.”

  “No, not according to this map,” Hunter said, looking at his display. “It’s called, ‘Empty Lands,’ a note says, ‘Uninhabited.’”

  “That’s something to think about,” Lori said, gliding behind an especially long, if thin, sheet of water pouring off a tall cliff a hundred meters wide. “We could say visitors have the opportunity to name any feature they find, climb to the top of, raft down, or cross over.”

  “Yeah, impossible anywhere else in the galaxy, but if you, the Sky Lady asked for it, the locals would allow it.” He looked over to her, “Such is the power of the Sky Lady in these parts.”

  Lori was shaking her head as they left the curtain of water behind. “You exaggerate something awful,” she said.

  “Look, look at that,” Hunter said, pointing ahead. “That dark canyon.”

  Lori banked right, slowed down, and flew into a narrow canyon, a broken fault, really, in the cliff face. She slowed more, and dropped lower, and the sun vanished overhead. But the canyon was not totally dark, even with vines, ferns, shrubby trees and mossy growth on every centimeter of exposed rock. Along the bottom a thin stream ran, often leaping over small cascades, or tarrying in deep, dark pools, yet with narrow to wide pebbly benches all along the way.

  “You could hike this canyon for a day or two,” Hunter said, examining it. “Nice place to visit, to stay for a few days. Wonder if there’s fish in that stream.”

  “Yeah, be nice until a passage storm comes by,” Lori said, slowing over a tranquil pool, with a wide shingle and sand beach on one side. “Then the water rises, and probably pretty fast. See that line on the rocks, with nothing growing there? That’s cause anytime the water rises, it washes everything away. You don’t want to be camping here then.”

  “Yeah, right. I wonder if there’s any gold around.”

  Lori laughed. “Yeah, you would. Wonder how the water is for a swim, wanna find out?”

  “Yes, we’ll do both. All three, actually.”

  Lori landed on the gravel bench, and they stepped out of Eagle One. Cool, moist air greeted them, even a bit of mist drifting by as they walked to the edge of the water. Lori bent and put her hand in the pool.

  “Cool. No, cold, I’d say, coldest water I’ve seen here. Cool in the canyon, too,” she said, standing and looking at the dark cliffs all around and above them. “Really don’t need to swim here.”

  Hunter was already undressed, and wading into the pool. “I’m gonna try anyway,” he said, and he fell forward into the water with a whoop.

  Lori watched him a moment, shrugged, undressed, and followed him into the pool. Her lungs inhaled suddenly at the coldness, and she felt her nipples contract to small stubs. Hunter swam over to her, and took her in his arms. They swam briefly, and toyed with the idea of making love, but the scene was just too cool, dark, and misty for that. Hunter poked around in the gravel and rocks, an announced, “No nuggets, or any colors. No gold here.” He walked around th edge of the pool, a bare, pale body outlined against dark rock and water. “No fish, either, at least none that I can see.” After fifteen minutes of exploring they dried off, dressed again, and flew on up the slot canyon.

  The cleft in the earth continued for several kilometers, gradually getting narrower and less deep, and Lori soon needed to rise upward, and out of it. Still, they flew over it for yet more kilometers, finding a drier and almost tree-less plain spreading out before them. Several places featured one of the AG engines on bedrock, at work nudging the entire planet into a higher orbit, an initiative suggested by Stephanie, on her first visit in 2155. With evening back at their tree house pending, Lori reluctantly turned north, flew upward, and returned sub-orbital in less than a half hour.

  Landing in front of the Blue Hole Hotel, she said to Hunter, “This is what I love most about Eagle One–we explore to our heart’s content, and then be home in time for supper.”

  Nif and Dayu ran to greet them as they walked to the entrance, telling of their day, running and swimming in the Blue Hole and the hotel’s pool.

  At dinner, Phe joined them, and seemed put off that Lori did not ask him to join them in their sight-seeing that day. He said they should have had a guide with them to provide a narrative of what they saw.

  “Have you ever been there?” Hunter asked him. “The Empty Lands? Quite a sight.”

  “No, I have not,” the Anawoka said. “It is a long trip for us, even in our air cars. Some people I know have seen it. The ‘Dark Canyon,’ as it is called, is well know to us, a feature taught in all the schools, Luci wide.”

  Somewhat chastised, Lori said, “Would you like to see it tomorrow?”

  Phe looked at her. “I would like to see the canyon, but will not put you out of your way in any manner. What do you plan to do then?”

  “I’d like to fly down to the southern hemisphere again, maybe to the South Pole, even. You would be welcome to join us if you wish,” Lori said to him.

  “Now, that is another place I’ve never seen,” he said. “Yes, if you will honor me with my presence, I would enjoy a flight with you.”

  “Good. We’ll leave the tree house about eight, local time.”

  “Can we come too?” Dayu said.

  Lori raised her eye
brows, and asked, “Sure you won’t be bored, be a long day.”

  The two kits looked at each other, and Nif said, “Can we stop someplace interesting, and get out for lunch, and things?”

  “Oh, yes, we can do that,” Hunter said. “Probably a lot of interesting places to visit.”

  They went on to talk about the South Pole, and the flocks that lived in those far off places south of the equator.

  When Tarue joined the small group on the garden deck of the hotel, the kits asked her if they could fly with the Sky Lady tomorrow. She looked at Lori, and asked, “This is with your approval?”

  “Yes, but only with yours, also.”

  “Oh, that would be such a help. I have many meetings tomorrow, here in the hotel, to finalize trade agreements, and such, and having the kits, um, occupied, will make that easier. Do you still plan to depart the planet the next day.”

  “Yes, late, toward evening. The passage storms will be absent from this area then.”

  “Good. Go, with my blessing,” Tarue said, as the kits jumped and cheered.

  “Then I will see you at eight,” Phe said.

  By mid-morning, Lori and Eagle One cruised along at 200 meters, watching the undulating, green, white, tan forests and pale grasslands pass under them. She easily found the Dark Canyon, and flew into it again. This time in the day, morning sunlight flooded down its length, creating a much more welcoming view than the day before. She stopped at the small pool they found yesterday, and the kits immediately jumped in, then ran out, saying it was too cold for good swimming. She let them run and explore for a quarter of an hour, while Phe showed them other places of interest on a holo-map.

  “This waterfall has no name. As first visitor, you may name it, if you wish,” he said when the kits rejoined them.

  “Let’s call it ‘Lorelei’s Pool,” Nif said.

  “Oh, there’s enough places named for me already, no, not that.” In actuality, very few places were named for her, or any other human.

  “How about Nif’s Pool, and Dayu’s Waterfall?” Hunter said.

  “Good choice,” Phe said, “Done.” He spoke into a device under his wing, and the names appeared on his holo-map.

  “We should name a place for Phe, too,” Dayu said. Anything nearby?”

  “We’ll see,” Lori said, adding, “All aboard, off we go.”

  They flew due south now, passing over a fairly large water body, Phe giving names as they went. He pointed ahead, saying, “A sizable flock lives in the next land mass, a big one, but seldom visited, the distances are too great. They speak a funny language, too.”

  “Have they heard of us?” Lori asked, not wanting to create a sensation, or hostility.

  “Everyone has heard of you, Sky Lady.”

  “OK, lets stop by, see if they recognize me.”

  Phe pointed ahead, a little more westerly, and Lori descended and cruised much lower over scrubby lands near the shore, then impressive forests of tall and majestic trees. She flew lower, and began to fly among the treetops, slowly, looking for natives. They soon found her.

  Eagle One said, “Natives approaching, several. Now more. Many more. Shall we leave?”

  “No, let’s wait for them here,” Lori said, as she rose above the treetops, and stopped there.

  A dozen or so Anawoka flew up and around them, and began to circle the air car, calling to it in bird-talk Phe could not translate. Neither could Eagle One when asked to do so.

  “Now, what? We all just sit here, looking at each other?”

  “They seem to want us to fly ahead,” Phe said, pointing that way. “Perhaps to a flock tree, or something.”

  Lori started to move, producing an immediate reaction, the welcoming committee, as Hunter called it, getting ahead of them and flying away, looking back to make sure the air car followed them. Others natives joined in as they flew along. All the locals’ plumage was lighter than that of their northern cousins.

  Within minutes, the escorts led them to an immense tree, almost alone in a fair clearing on a hillside, grasslands around it, a stream flowing in cascades beneath one side, and now hundreds of Anawoka racing in from all points of the compass.

  “I trust they are friendly,” Lori said, slowing, and beginning a leisurely traverse of the tree’s top.

  “They always are,” Phe said. “But don’t fly into the branches, land somewhere below.”

  Lori did, and the growing flock started to circle her, all heads turned toward them. She opened the canopy, and Phe jumped up onto the back, spread his wings, and called to them. Now, several birds landed nearby, and strutted toward him, feathers up, on alert.

  Again, no translation for their language. Phe, looked at Lori and said, “Maybe you should stand up, and say your name–Sky Lady.”

  Shrugging, Lori did so, standing on the pilot’s seat, holding her arms up, and saying, as loud as she could, “I am Lorelei, the Sky Lady.”

  Immediate reaction by those Anawoka standing nearby. She heard her name repeated by them, then by a growing chorus of others, many now circling just a dozen odd meters overhead.

  “Step down, Lori, maybe they want to meet you,” Hunter said.

  Yeah, and maybe not. But she did, climbing down and stepping off the stairs, and onto the firm earth of this southern continent.

  One of the natives strode up to her, and bowed slightly. He said something, ending in “Sky Lady?”

  She answered, pointing to her chest, “Yes, I am the Sky Lady.”

  The native unfurled its wings, and gave a great cry, one repeated over and over by all the others. Now, more birds landed nearby, to shuffle toward them.

  Lori beckoned to Hunter, told him to bring the kits out, too. He did, to more cries and wing flapping, joyful, she hoped. The kits took it all in, used to a fuss being made over them, even walking out to see the natives closer. Lori, apprehensive, went with them, and Hunter and Phe followed. She saw Eagle One rise a little, and move closer, a meter off the ground.

  With much gesturing, and bird talk from Phe, and use of his hologram, everyone soon knew where the visitors were from, and even why they were here. Sayornis, the one closest, and apparently some sort of local leader, spoke the most, Phe hard pressed to translate, but the visitors began to feel they were most welcome, all too seldom seen in this part of the world. Sayo said they rarely experienced passage storms, infrequently crossed the “Grand Sea,” as he, actually, a she, Lori surmised, said, and have never seen the spaceport.

  Lori and Hunter brought out their display screens, and tried to see if the natives had anything to trade. No, not really, their needs were few, and supplied by the trees and forest, and an occasional trader from up north, mainly fuel packs and various electronics.

  “Mmm,” Hunter said, “Now how do they pay for that? No logging here, I’d say.”

  Sayo, seeing a medallion on a gold chain around Dayu’s neck, pointed to it, and asked, in pantomime, if they liked the shiny metal. That got everyone’s attention. Assured by Phe that they did, and found it highly desirable, Sayo implied they could trade things for it. What did you want? Phe gestured.

  The native pointed to the view screen, and flicked his end feathers at it. Hunter moved the screens along, and when an air car appeared, Sayo tapped that. With some difficulty, Phe asked how many, and gathered quite a few. Phe pointed to the Sky Lady, and with yet more pantomime, implied she was the one who could bring them to this place.

  Lori asked Phe, “Is that hundreds, or thousands, she wants?”

  “Many thousands,” he said. “I think.”

  No doubt Sayo, and the multitude standing around, noticed her taking a deep breath, and looking discouraged. Nevertheless, she told him she would see personally, that some, and she held up her hands, close together, would start to be delivered, in the near future. Where to bring them?

  Sayo circled his wings, looking down.

  “Good a place as any, Hunter said. “Now, how to pay for them. They have the concept of cost and paymen
t?”

  “They do,” Phe said. “But I doubt they have any exchange rate in sync with the northern lands. This may take some time to sort out.”

  He tried to ask what they would pay for an air car, but Sayo just pointed to the golden chain around Dayu’s neck. Using the view screen, Hunter drew three small, nugget sized objects, and pointed to the necklace. He filled the screen with more nuggets, wondering if that was enough, and pointed back to Eagle One. He figured that might end the discussion.

  But no. Sayo looked intently at Phe, and gestured in a motion they all understood, implying “Yes.” Phe did a quick estimated of the number of nuggets, and gave that figure to her. Back and forth they went, finally Phe said, “I think she understands air cars will be expensive, but she seems to be agreeable to paying whatever they cost. Shall I tell her we, ah, you, Sky Lady, will deliver some, say, what ten...?”

  “No, make it five, even that will be a stretch.”

  “OK, five, when the next transport starship arrives?”

  “Yes, I’ll commit to that.” My factor will shit when she hears this. “Then ask if in the future, they might fly to the spaceport cargo area, to accept future deliveries.” Too late, she worried that might be a bad idea, when they see the number arriving, and the few they might get. But can’t be helped.

  More back and forth, and finally Phe said, “Sayo accepts the offer, will acquire the mineral in quantity, I gather there’s quite a bit of it around here in the hills to the west,” he said, pointing surreptitiously, his wing close to his body, and hidden from Sayo. “I wonder if she thinks she’s snookering you.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Hunter said. “Long as it’s a fair exchange, we’ll be pleased.”

  With that, Phe motioned to Sayo and Lori, his wings outstretched, then brought them together. Sayo walked to Lori, and caressed her right shoulder with his wing. Lori reached out as she withdrew it, took the end in her hand, and shook it.

  “Done,” Phe said, with animation, and a great noise rose from the Anawoka all around.

  Natives began landing, many laden with baskets with food, mostly fruit, some grains and seeds. Lori cautioned the kits to eat nothing they do not recognize, something she soon noticed they did not pay too close attention to. She and Hunter took some of the tree nuts they knew, but little else. Phe was showing Sayo Hunter’s viewsreen, trying to convey the message it was also available at the spaceport.