The room was getting bigger, and so were his dear little friends, and the perfume they were wearing was like a soft sweet scented cloak that swept over him.
And then two of them slowly drifted off and disappeared, the remaining one was smiling and showing the most beautiful teeth. Her face lit up with joy for having found him and her long dark hair flowed down to caress his cheek.
Soft gentle hands massaged his tired muscles and he could feel himself relaxing in a haze of sweetness.
Suddenly he felt a stab of pain somewhere, he was not sure where, and again, but it was getting less and less, and then a lovely sensation that he could only vaguely remember having once known, but could not place it.
His heart was racing; his pulse pounding and then he seemed to explode in a shower of beautiful sparks....darkness, peace and sleep.
Kal woke up at last. It must have been night, for someone had thoughtfully lit his three lamps, and the room was bathed in a gentle pale yellow glow. He went to sit up and found that a certain part of his body was very sore, and then he remembered.
At first he felt a surge of livid anger; he was going to break heads over this violation.
Slowly he came to his senses, and looked at the facts, as they would have done. They had carefully worked out what they saw as the best course of action for the betterment of the whole tribe, which meant its extension into the future.
They had tried to get his co-operation and had failed.
Their basic goal still remained, so they went for it using the next most subtle thing they had, skill. Someone somewhere, must have noticed a slight reaction on his part to something, and putting two and two together which they were getting a little too good at, came up with a solution to their problem, the sleep mist.
It would be interesting to see how they felt towards him after their rather cheeky ploy. After all, ‘do it yourself’ was one thing; ‘help yourself’ was a different matter.
As he suspected, it made not one jot of difference when he went outside next day. It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and from their view point, it probably hadn’t.
Kal felt he had to admire their single mindedness directed at achieving their goal. There was no maybe or perhaps, they just went ahead and did it. This kind of attitude would make them a very powerful race indeed, if all went well for them in the future.
Kal decided to forget the whole incident, it wouldn’t work anyway, so was not likely to be repeated, and holding a grudge wouldn’t get any of them anywhere, and was totally non productive.
There were some more metal ores he wanted to experiment with, and see if he could make iron, and then refine it to steel. That really would be something.
Steel would open up a whole new range of things to make and opportunities to be exploited. He swallowed what he thought was his hurt pride, took a deep breath, and went out to the mineral piles, to look for a possible iron ore sample.
A few days later after the unfortunate mating incident, a couple of the little people came to him and indicated that they had found something they wanted him to see.
A group of them had been exploring the cave complex, and had stumbled across a strange white powder which they thought might be of interest to Kal.
They had brought a little of it out with them, but Kal couldn’t make out what it was. It was definitely not organic, so therefore it must have originated from decomposed rock, or a mixture of rocks, or maybe something caused by a reaction of one mineral with another.
He had seen nothing like it before, but would enjoy finding out what it could be used for, that’s if it had a use.
Kal had by now collected together a small selection of chemicals which he could use for analysis, in a crude way. The sample was broken up into several units and the testing began. He got a reaction to weak acid, as it fizzed, so that meant there was a carbonate present, but nothing else seemed to make any difference to it.
It was only when he put a small portion onto a clay plate and put that into the bronze casters furnace, that the miracle happened.
The white powder fused into a clear liquid, and when they withdrew the plate, the liquid solidified into a glass-like substance. It had also fused itself onto the plate, and they couldn’t get it off.
Kal had never come across a natural mineral that was in effect glass in a powder form, but then he had never been here before.
He asked to be taken to the source of the material, and a small group of them set off later that day armed with carry bags and a small wheeled box, and the usual weapons.
They had gone quite some way into the system of tunnels before they came to the cave from which the mysterious powder had been collected.
It was in an off-shoot from another cavern, and had only been found when one of them had got lost, and had called for rescue.
The back wall of the cave had a small hole high up at roof level, and the powder had cascaded down to form a pile on the floor. They loaded up the carry bags and the box trolley, and then began poking the hole to see if any more was ready to come out. A little did, and they collected that too.
There must have been a strange chemical process going on up there in the section beyond the cave roof, but there was no way they could get to it from where they were.
After returning to the compound Kal, gave instruction for a long bronze tube to be made, using a sand and clay core to make the hole up the middle.
A new crucible was also made, and two days later they were ready for the experiment. He had not told them what he was going to attempt, as it was likely that it wouldn’t work, but he thought it was worth a try.
The crucible was filled with the white powder and placed into the furnace, and after a while they could see that the powder had melted and was bubbling.
More powder was added as the material went into its liquid phase, and eventually the crucible was withdrawn. Kal took up the bronze tube, dipped it into the molten mass. Gathering up a quantity of it on the end of the tube, he proceeded to turn the tube and blow at the same time.
The blob on the end of the tube expanded, and before long a bottle-like container was formed. Kal let it cool awhile, gave it a tap at the point where it joined the tube and had made the first of many glass containers to come. The sharp broken edge where it had joined the tube was ground smooth on one of the old grinding wheels.
Several days later, Kal went one step further using a specially made box-like crucible, dipping a half metre long bronze blade edgewise into the glass, and slowly withdrawing it.
A sheet of glass was formed as the blade was lifted, drawing up more of the semi-liquid material as it went. After several attempts, he got the withdrawing speed just right, and a very respectable glass sheet resulted.
It did have a few bubbles in it, and there were a few ripples as well, but that was a minor detail as far as he was concerned.
The concept of windows was something new to the little people, but they accepted it with delight, when they found that it kept insects out, although there were not that many to start with.
A team of glass blowers was soon formed, and speedily had the art of blowing containers of all shapes and sizes at their finger tips.
The main problem was finding more of the white powder, as it was a little slow in producing itself in the cave.
Kal wondered if there was any way to speed up the process of powder formation, but as he didn’t understand how it was formed in the first place he didn’t have a lot to go on.
They explored the cave from top to bottom, but all they could find was the mysterious hole near the roof and a slow trickle of powder every now and then.
Caverns each side of the powder cave were looked at very thoroughly, but to no avail, and then they found a narrow tunnel which went upwards in the general direction of the powder cave, and in they went.
It seemed to go on forever and the air was getting hotter all the time. Suddenly they came to a point where it opened out to a small cave overlooking a vast cavern
below.
The little team stood in awe as they were bathed in hot air and steam, with a strange chemical smell to add to the weird effect of the place.
The whole cavity was lined with a crystal formation, as though a huge bubble had been blown in the earth, and the walls had crystallized out like sugar frosting.
There were wisps of steam or smoke rising up from several places, and the whole area was lit with an eerie light coming from the crystals on the floor of the cavern.
Water dripped occasionally from the roof onto the crystals below, accompanied by a faint hissing noise and that was generating the heat and light as it reacted with the crystals, or so Kal thought.
It was only a matter of adding a little more water to the system and they could have all the ‘glass powder’ they were likely to require. Nobody enjoyed the journey up to the glass cavern and back, but the little ones didn’t seem to mind when Kal explained what to do and why.
They were going to have to be careful not to add too much water at a time, as it was possible that there could be an explosion, so violent was the chemical reaction.
‘What else might lay hidden in the labyrinth of tunnels and caves under the cliff? It must be worth a look at sometime’ was Kal’s instinctive thought, never one to miss out on a good opportunity. He was so busy these days, finding the time to do all that he wanted was getting difficult, despite all the willing help of the little people.
Kal suggested that they try adding small amounts of some of the strange minerals which he couldn’t identify to the glass, it may well be that these could add some colour to the finished products. Some samples were crushed, and added to the molten mixture in the crucible.
They were a little disappointed with the result in the melting pot, as it didn’t seem to make any difference, but much to their surprise, when the glass was cooled the colours were there, full and vibrant.
The making of refractory material for the furnaces led on quite naturally to ordinary ceramics, and everyone had a set of plates and cups of different sizes before long.
Store jars were very popular, as they could help to keep food fresh, and any uninvited insects, were kept at bay. Once the knack of adding a glazed finish to the pottery had been achieved, then decoration soon followed.
Kal was surprised that the little people went in for such a frivolity as decorating their pots, as they had shown no sign of it in any way before. He thought that they were developing in all directions now, and wondered when the first paintings would appear.
That reminded him, paper making was a possibility, as they had now found a plant similar to the fibre tree that yielded short but fine fibres that were not suitable for spinning, but may well do for paper.
As there was no verbal language between them, and apart from the slate drawings, which was their only form of communication, he had not bothered with the quest for paper. Now might be a good time for it.
They may develop their own written language, but he didn’t see how, as there was no initial base to work from, and he could only teach them his own.
Weaving the very fine sieves on which to catch the paper pulp was the most difficult part of the whole project, and having achieved that, with the customary time and patience, the rest was comparatively easy.
Making a press or rollers to compress the rough paper sheets so that they were made smooth was well within the abilities of the paper gang, and they set about the task with keen interest, as far as he could tell.
Kal was never really sure, as their faces showed so little emotion, and he could only judge by the way they went about their tasks.
There were plenty of sources for the dyes and pigments required for making the paint, should they want them, and once he had shown them what could be achieved, they were all for trying it out for themselves.
The first efforts were not too inspiring, but as with most things which they tried, it soon improved, and he was surprised yet again at their learning ability.
The days rolled on into months after the mating incident, and Kal had forgotten all about it, which was not too surprising, as he had been rushed off his metaphorical feet, thinking up new ideas to keep the little ones fully occupied and stretched to the limit of their abilities.
One day a large gathering in the compound had caught his attention, and as he went over to investigate he was turned away, politely, but turned away just the same.
‘What the hell are they up to now’ he thought, as he stood there imagining the worst. Shortly afterwards, he was beckoned over, and he was sure that some of them had a grin on their faces.
In the middle of the quite large group, was a clear space, and in the space was the oddest looking contraption he had ever seen. Smoke and steam was issuing forth from a chimney, and he was gently taken by the hand and lead over to it. There was total silence as a lever was indicated to him, and they invited him to move it.
Kal pushed the lever down, and with a hiss and a few clanks, a wheel, which he hadn’t noticed before, began turning. Faster and faster it went, until the whole thing threatened to shake itself to pieces.
‘Good God, they’ve done it’ he cried out loud, and clapped his hands as enthusiastically as he could. Everyone else joined in the clapping, and it was really evident that they were enjoying the moment.
It rattled and clanked with clouds of smoke and steam gushing out all over the place, but it worked, and that was the main thing.
Somehow he felt very proud of his prodigies for that was how he now thought of the little people. What an achievement, considering how they were when he had found them so long ago.
With a little refining, and a set of wheels, the planet was open to them, and he was looking forward to it immensely. The first thing to do was to see just what principles they had based their machine on, and improve it without giving his friends a loss.
The wheels were no problem, and crude springs for wagons had already been developed. He wondered what would have happened if they had discovered light based mineral oils, but they hadn’t, so steam power would do for the time being.
Next day, after a good night’s sleep and an early breakfast, he went to join the steam gang who were already there waiting for him.
The strange thing was that the little people expected him to add his ideas to refining their machine, and this was quite evident from the way they presented themselves, the steam engine and the way they reacted to him. His worst fears were allayed, and he set to work.
The sketch slates were presented for Kal to draw on, and work commenced to improve what had been a marvellous breakthrough in engineering to a superb self powered vehicle, bearing in mind the limitations imposed on them by the tools and materials they had to hand.
Many days later, the steam driven, charcoal burning monster of a vehicle powered up for the first time, with much hand clapping and general noisy approval from all assembled, and that was just about everyone.
This was a machine which would carry about forty of the little people and Kal complete with provisions and a selection of weaponry. Unknown to Kal, the weapons had also been improved somewhat.
He had shown them other possible uses for the bow which he had used to make fire, and it had been developed into an effective long bow, once the principle had been understood, and it was then taken a step further and became an even more deadly cross bow.
The great machine was going to make exploring a lot easier, and Kal noticed that the driving seat had been made big enough for him to sit on.
Obviously he was intended to drive it, and after a practice run in the compound, as many as possible climbed aboard and the gates were flung open for their first powered journey into the unknown.
It was not a great journey of discovery really, but it was well into evening before they returned, a bit dusty, but very happy and excited.
The machine had been a great success, and although a few modifications were desirable, it had performed very well indeed, although the speed of travel on rough ground would hav
e to be improved.
Kal suggested that after a few alterations, they really should go on an expedition, just to see what else the world had to offer, and this was agreed upon with great enthusiasm by one and all. The rest of the evening was spent with the crew telling tales of the adventure and the things they had seen, at least he supposed that was what they were doing, judging by the attentiveness of the audience.
He had been on the planet for some considerable time now, but he had not noticed any change of season. This must mean that the world rotated in a stable circular orbit around its sun, and had no axial tilt, as the sun always rose and set in the same places.
The plants seemed to have worked out their own way of coping with this, as he had observed that while some were coming into fruit, others of the same species were over their fruiting cycle and were resting before producing another crop.
This meant that there were no fruiting seasons as such, and crops could be produced at any time throughout the year, except that there was no year as he knew it. Time measurement had no meaning that he could discern with regard to the little people, and he certainly had no use for it any more.
The metal smelters had been experimenting with the various ores, and blending them to produce some interesting combinations that were unknown to Kal.
Combining their skills with the glass makers, who had developed coloured bead manufacture, they were making a form of neck jewellery and an assortment of beautiful ornaments to adorn their caves with.
This was the first real sign that they were developing an aesthetic taste, for the ornaments had no utilitarian use that he could see.
Some of the shapes bore no resemblance to anything Kal had ever seen, but they were very pleasing to the eye, and it was not long before he was presented with some, but how they knew he wanted them, he didn’t know.
The wooden gates to the main compound were replaced with the most impressive and elaborate design of bronze scroll work he had ever seen, and he then knew they were into ‘art work’ in a big way.
If only he could speak their language or even understand what they said, but there was no way his voice could duplicate their high pitched squeaks and whistles, let alone interpret what they meant.
The Inosculation Syndrome Page 12