Chapter 52
“I hope you don’t take offense that I shared with the Bloemfontein Colony Council that you are a farmer, Mr. Kaufman,” the man on the left said to the man on the right, as they walked along a path from the center of the colony that climbed a hill.
“Please, Johan, call me Jim,” the man on the right replied. “And, no, I don’t mind. It’s what I did on Earth, and was proud to have that as my profession. But I’m afraid my skills are of limited use in this place.”
“You are a farmer, why would you say that?” Johan said. “We need to grow food and you can help us learn how.”
“I was a farmer that used large, mechanized and computerized equipment to do nearly every physical aspect of the job a farmer does,” Jim explained. “Preparing the soil, planting the seed, removing weeds that grew, harvesting the grain and transporting it to processing facilities. Well, to the elevators, actually. Anyway, we have no tilling, planting, weeding or harvesting equipment here. And I’m not sure you need someone to say ‘dig a trench’, ‘pull up weeds’, ‘pick the grain’.”
“Besides,” the former farmer continued,”the seed I used was hybridized for the soil on my farm to maximize yield, I had custom-designed fertilizer, with herbicides to treat the weeds that did grow, and irrigation equipment I could control to provide for the perfect amount of precipitation when it didn’t rain. Hell, I don’t even know what seed would be good to grow as a crop that could do well in close proximity to itself, what is pest resistant. I don’t even know how long it will take for a plant to grow here once a seed is planted!”
“Your knowledge of the things you don’t know about on this planet far exceeds anything anyone in our colony understands about growing food,” Johan said. “So your knowledge is still highly valuable to us. And as agreed, we will share with you what we know about the other colonies we’ve come in contact with, and allow you the opportunity to visit them in between leading the farming team in activities.”
“Got it,” Jim said. “Tell the people how to tote that barge, lift that bale. Do you have any alcohol or jails around here that will factor into the team activities?”
“Excuse me?” the South African asked. “I don’t understand the question.”
“Never mind. It was supposed to be a joke, but was in poor taste. So, again, tell me the name of this lady who we’re going to meet? It’s just not sinking into my brain,” Jim said.
“Doctor Bamba El Akawka,” Johan said. “She is a former scientist at the South African Astronomical Observatory. She is very aware of the arrival patterns of the alien landing ships, and she is helping track the stars so we can determine what sort of lunar and annual cycle we have on this planet. Her goal is to determine what our calendar is on Nova.”
“Wouldn’t you have to track the stars for months to know the pattern? Or have really extensive notes for a long time to figure out how things repeat? I mean, do people even do that any more without a computer?” Jim asked.
Johan started to open his mouth, but Jim interrupted. “Never mind, I’ll answer my own question. No computers here on Nova, so she doesn’t really have that option. So how is she doing it?”
“She found the bark of a tree that grows along the river which is very easy to make flat and she’s able to break off large pieces about the size of a human torso,” Johan shared. “And she said she found a fruit where the juice makes a reasonable ink for use on the tip of a bird feather. So she is mapping out two dozen of the brightest objects she can track every night when the weather is clear.”
“And what has she discovered?”
“You can ask her yourself,” Johan said as he pointed the last bit up the path to a small hut on top of the hill. Next to the hut was a woman pouring some fruit from a skin pouch into a wooden bowl. This part of the ground actually rose up high enough to be above the trees around it, but was bare itself. Almost like a giant wart protruding from the surrounding landscape.
The woman emptied the pouch, looked up to see the two men approaching, and set the pouch on the table next to the bowl and began walking down the hill to meet them.
“Hello, Johan!” she called.
“Hello, Dr. El Akawka,” the man replied. “How are you today?”
“I’m doing well, and even better now that you have come to visit me up here on my mountain, the Doctor responded with a broad smile. “But please, Johan, you do not need to refer to me as Dr. El Akawa. You are always so formal… and polite!”
“My parents insisted on being respectful when interacting with others, and to treat them with kindness in the same way I would like for people to treat me,” Johan said.
“You’ve spoken that way of your parents often,” the woman said. “I wish I could have met them back on Earth.”
“I also wish that could have happened,” Johan replied in a melancholy tone.
The conversation paused. Then the doctor turned to Jim and extended her hand. “And this is one of our new arrivals. Remind me of your name, please.”
“Jim,” he said, shaking her hand. “Jim Kaufmann. I’m pleased to meet you, Dr. El A…”
“Please, call me Bamba,” the doctor interrupted. “It’s easier for you to say and hopefully can set the example for Johan.”
“Pleased to meet you, Bamba,” Jim said finished the handshake.
“Johan mentioned to me last night that one of the new arrivals was interested in the star maps I’m making. I’m guessing that is you?”
“Well, the tracking of the things you see in the sky, more broadly,” Jim shared, “but yes, I’m interested in your observations.”
Johan took a step back. “I can see you two will be getting to discuss Dr. El Awakwa’s work now, and I must excuse myself to find my own work team. I wish you both a pleasant day,” he finished with a nod of his head and began to turn.
“Oh, Doctor, can you help Jim return to camp when you are done?” Johan added.
“I’ll be fine,” Jim said. “It was pretty straightforward getting here, and I need to learn my way around.”
“Very well,” Johan nodded and added a small wave of his hand. “Have a pleasant day!”
“Thank you, Johan,” Jim said, as the South African colonist walked down the hill.
“An extremely kind man,” Bamba said, watching Johan disappear into the trees. “It is sad that he still carries the burdens of Earth with him here.”
“He seems pretty happy to me,” Jim said. “How can you tell?”
“Any time the topic of his parents comes up, he is barely able to stop himself from crying.” Bamba shared.
“What happened?” Jim asked.
“Johan’s parents were killed on earth by a burglar when he was away on a business trip,” Doctor El Awakwa explained. “He wouldn’t leave his parents house after he buried them, and he fell into depression for months. He said he was about to commit suicide because he felt responsible for their deaths, thinking he could have stopped the burglar from getting in or could have at least gotten them to a hospital after the attack. Then the aliens showed up. After a friend convinced him to come out of the house to talk with others about the alien arrival, he confided in the friend what he had almost done. She said his parents would want him to live and to discover, especially with the developments happening. A month later, when the elevator in Bloemfontein started going up, he took that as inspiration to leave Earth, start anew here, and was determined to do whatever he needed to make the colony successful in his parents honor.”
“Wow. That is definitely more intense than most of the stories I’ve heard,” Jim commented. “And what about you? What brought you here?”
The doctor blushed slightly. “Pride, I guess. I told myself that if I talk about how wonderful the stars are with my friends, I needed to show them I was serious by going to see them firsthand. Curiosity definitely factored in as well, to be honest. But I was so naive. We have a few people that had a sense of what it might be like and had skills that could prepare them. I, on the other hand, have few life skills to offer. I don’t hunt, am not a builder, not good at distinguishing between different plants, and have childhood asthma that seems to have returned here whenever I try to do something strenuous for a long time. I help where I can, mostly in cooking. But the colony has been gracious to allow me to study the movement of the celestial objects. Johan was one of the people that convinced many others that knowing the cycle of time on this planet will be useful. I hope that’s the case. But still, we lose people here to injuries or illnesses that on Earth I’m convinced could be treated. I wish I was a medical doctor and not a doctor of astronomy.”
“Johan and others must think it good that you are doing what you are doing,” Jim said. “What have you discovered so far?”
Bamba smiled gently. “I make it sound like this is a colony of sadness, don’t I. But yes, I’m starting to get some interesting patterns that are starting to show.”
“We’ve been on this planet nearly ninety days,” she continued, “and I have been writing down observations for much of that time. I have a seventy-day span of tracking fifteen different objects each night, and I started tracking another two dozen about forty days ago. You know about the two moons, correct? The closer one is in a locked orbit that keeps it full every evening. I don’t know for sure, but based on what I see and especially what I hear at night when that moon is out, there is a whole animal and plant cycle tuned to that moonlight. The second moon is on a thirty-five day cycle from what I can tell. It is farther from our planet, but much larger, based on the unscientific surface albedo I can deduce. Well, I think there is a third moon very far out. It is much smaller than the other two, and could be mistaken for a star by most people, but the path it follows across the sky is definitely unique compared to any other object.”
“And does that third moon have any impact here on us?” Jim asked.
“I’m guessing nothing we would really notice,” Bamba answered. “Let’s see. Something that is of impact here would be our relative position on the planet. I think we’re within ten degrees of the equator, based on the relative length of the day and night. Either that, or the year here is extremely long. But there isn’t a fast change in the daylight, based on where the stars I’m tracking become visible at dusk and where they are when they fade from the dawn sky.”
“And you can tell all that by watching the stars? I guess I kind of knew that, but hadn’t really thought about how to do it here. So are you able to determine the length of the year?” Jim asked.
“Well, not yet,” the astronomer said, looking pensive. “But, I am working towards an estimate. I haven’t told anyone yet, but I’m guessing it’s between seventy and one-hundred days. But please don’t share that yet! I don’t have enough data gathered.”
“I won’t. I remember how mad I got at the weather forecasters when they got the details about rain or sun wrong, so I don’t want to step into the middle of that here, even if it doesn’t involve rain,” Jim said with a smile. “But I thought Johan said you were also tracking alien ships arriving. Is that true?”
“Yes, and that has some interesting findings as well,” Bamba noted excitedly. “You said that there were eighty-one sites that were sending up three groups of people per day with around a thousand people in each group, correct? So if that corresponds to how many colonists groups are being dropped off each day on this planet, we’re talking around two-hundred forty-three ships arriving each day. I obviously wouldn’t see that many here, since the horizon limits what I can see, but from what I can tell, there are eight to twelve non-celestial objects I see each evening. The aliens don’t have flashing lights on their ships, so it’s mainly reflection or occlusion of moonlight. But I do see a contrail almost every morning. And I’ve been able to trace four contrails to ships that have landed at one of the neighboring colonies in the past thirty days. Including the one that brought your group here three days ago. So, yes, I’m confident that what I’m seeing are the ships bringing people here.”
“So you can tell where they are going?” Jim asked.
“No, not usually. It’s like seeing a plane fly across the sky back on Earth. I know what direction they are headed, but not exactly where they will land.”
“Did you see one this morning?” Jim asked.
“I did. They come through essentially right before daybreak. You should come out tomorrow morning and join me if you are interested,” Bamba said.
“I’d love to! In fact, I might come and watch overnight, if that’s ok. I’m pretty sure about finding my way in daylight, but not so much at night,” Jim said. “Speaking of that, I should probably find something I can do today to help earn my keep. I think they expect me back at the main camp site to talk about planting. Perhaps your calculations will help me look good if I ever start giving real guidance on growing crops.”
“Oh, I certainly hope so, Jim. I need to earn my keep as well.” Bamba said.
“OK, I’ll meet up with you at camp after the evening meal, if that’s ok,” Jim said.
“That would be wonderful!” Dr. El Awakwa replied enthusiastically. “I haven’t had anyone observe with me for over thirty days.”
After the group meal had been shared that evening, Jim wandered around the main colony gathering space looking through all the faces of those gathered. He spied his target and walked over to her.
“Good evening, Dr. El…” he began, but stopped when the woman gave him a disapproving stare. “um, good evening, Bamba.”
“Good evening, Jim.” the woman replied with a smile. “I’m almost ready to head out to the observation hill, but I need to finish my chores.”
“May I help? I thought you were part of the cooking crew today. Isn’t that all done?” Jim responded.
“Yes, but we also have clean-up duties, and I’m on the disposal team tonight. We don’t need the trash close to the main camp, so we have a burial site far enough from here that the smell doesn’t usually float back and the animals and other creatures handling the final disposal won’t bother us.”
“I didn’t see many leftovers,” Jim noted.
“Anything edible we mix into a stew that cooks overnight for the morning mush, but the husks of some of the fruits, shells from the nuts and bones need to go,” Bamba explained.
“So I’m sure you’ve talked about it, but why not try to get the marrow from the bones?” Jim questioned.
“We do,” Bamba replied. “The big ones are also boiling. But the small bones aren’t worth it.”
“Got it. I’d be happy to be on the compost crew tonight,” Jim said.
“That would be great! It will be you, me, Thabo, Dedan, Amani, and Shani. And then we can go from there to my station. Oh, I’ve been thinking about this all day, and have the night all planned out. I think it will be quite fun!” the former astronomer said.
Jim joined the group who carried animal skills holding the food waste to be buried, and followed the others. He was winded and sweating by the time they arrived at the dump site.
“This is farther than I thought,” he said, dropping the skin on the ground he had been carrying. “How far is this from camp? I mean, how do you measure distance here?”
The man named Dedan offered a reply. “Usually we know where we are going and people just say we are going to the food waste or going to the second bend in the river or going to the five sisters tree and people know how far that is because they’ve been there before. But I guess if we are describing some place new to a person, it is about the number of steps.”
“And how many steps is it to get here,” Jim said, his breathing calming down.
“What do you think, Shani? About five-thousand?” Dedan guessed.
The woman nodded as she grabbed a large shell and stepped into a trough dug into the dirt.
“So, over a mile from camp,” Jim said, watching the others grab their own shells. No one responded to him. “Um, Bamba? Now what?”
“Others dig this trench further along once every five days. But we clear some final ground to get to fresh dirt. And then it’s time to bury what you carried here,” she explained, handing Jim a shell.
After the group had buried the waste, Bamba explained to the others that she and Jim would be going to her station and asked Dedan and Shari to take the skins that she and Jim had used back to the main camp. Then the others left.
“Well, I was going to offer to guide us to your hill, Bamba, but I’m afraid I’m totally disoriented now,” Jim said.
“Oh, no problem,” Dr. El Awakwa responded. “It’s only about half the distance to the observation hut as it is back to the main site, so it won’t take us long.”
She pointed down a different path than the one they arrived on, and the two began walking.
“I still have a lot to get used to,” Jim said. “It bothers me not knowing distances. And I noticed people don’t talk about time measurements either. I mean, don’t you have to make plans for certain things to happen at certain times?”
“Well, yes and no,” Bamba shared. “We know sunrise, noon, sunset and everything else is a portion of the morning or afternoon, based upon the position of the sun. As you probably noticed, not everyone arrived at the same time to eat this evening, so as long as you get your work done with your group, and make it back before sunset, you usually find enough cooked food waiting for you. We have a colony meeting once every ten days or if we have an exploration group come back, and that is for people who are interested and they arrive and leave as desired. So I guess there isn’t a need for knowing the exact time.”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter,” Jim noted. “It’s not like we have to meet friends at a restaurant at a certain time.”
Bamba chuckled. “Cafe Nova! Yes, we’ll make reservations for 8:00 pm tomorrow night, please.”
“I suppose I was pretty naive in coming here myself,” Jim said.
“So I told you my story. What was it that made you decide to leave Earth?” Bamba asked.
Jim paused before responding.
“Do you remember the first ships that arrived,” he asked. “I mean, like the first three ships?”
Bamba nodded.
“Well, the one that landed in Kansas – in the United States – the place where it landed was my farm,” he said.
“Wait!” Bamba reacted. “The aliens landed in your farm? Were you scared when it was coming down? Did you get hurt? Did they take you hostage or something?”
“No,” Jim chuckled. “I own … um, owned, around two-thousand acres and the field they landed in was a little over two miles from my house. So I didn’t even know it arrived until I was driving around that morning getting ready to start my work and saw the dust their ship was throwing up. They landed during planting season, so that field and the ones around it weren’t available. Between what the aliens were building, and the property that the government was seizing to keep people away as well as try and control the situation, I lost about half my ground by the time it was all said and done. And due to my own selfishness and stubbornness, I nearly got a teenage girl killed when the rioters arrived once those first videos came back from here. And then I almost killed her dad later that day. Let me just say a few things finally came into focus for me. I left my farm, left Kansas and traveled around a bit. While I was wandering around, I actually met a fair number of people who were interested in coming here or were actively making their way to one of the elevators. The idea of starting over got planted into my brain, thinking I could do some ‘real farming’ here – you know, actually planting the seed myself and cutting the crops by hand instead of using a computer to have machines do it all. I realized that was a silly idea and it would just magically work that I end up in my sod house next to my forty acres with whatever is like a mule here tied up to a post outside. But that idea was stuck in my head and wouldn’t die. I guess the final straw was when I was going to leave my cousin’s house where I had been staying for a number of weeks, my dog didn’t want to come with me. I think he knew things were changing pretty fast on Earth and was trying to tell me to stop running from it. Animals are pretty smart, you know? Well, at least dogs are. Not sure about cats.”
“Anyway, I thanked my cousin for letting me stay with her, hopped in my pickup, went back to Kansas, saw that my fields had pretty much been ruined since I had left, found out nearly all of my neighbors and friends in town had left the area, and that sealed it for me. I went to the elevator, signed up to leave, and was shipped out two days later before I had a chance to change my mind,” Jim concluded.
There was silence as they walked along the path for a few dozen paces.
Dr. El Awakwa spoke up as she stared ahead. “That certainly rivals Johan’s story. In fact, if you ask me, your story has more overall content to it. I could see that being made into an interesting serial cast back on Earth.”
She glanced at her walking companion and noticed the uncertain look on his face.
“Oh, I apologize!” Bamba said. “Empathy is not one of my strengths. I’m not sure if that comes from spending more time with the stars, or is a reason I find more comfort with the things outside of this world instead of the people on it. But you have to acknowledge it is a very interesting story.”
“Many times since we landed here I wish it were a story,” Jim responded. “But I can promise you, it really happened. Unless this is one very long and very real dream I have yet to wake up from.”
“Again, I apologize,” Bamba said as she blushed. “I wasn’t doubting you. I was simply making an observation.”
“So tell me more about what you observed with the ships arriving,” Jim said, using the opportunity to change topics. “You see a ship almost every morning, most of which don’t land near here, but a few do. The ship I came in on is the first one that showed up at your site since you arrived, with your ship being the first one in this location. You don’t know exactly where we are on this planet, but the nearest other drop-off spots are a walk of one to three days, and…”
“I actually cannot see the ships,” Bamba interrupted. “I see the contrails from the ships. The ships move too fast and are too far in the sky to actually see, and the morning sky is still too dark to see things easily in the sky. Well, except for the one ship that landed in the nearest colony ten days back. And of course, the ship in which you arrived.”
“OK, got it. Tell me everything you know, or think you know, about the ships.”
Dr. El Awakwa talked for the rest of the walk to her observation hut, sharing additional details about the flights she had seen, both in-bound occurring early morning and out-bound in the early afternoon. The two walkers discussed her theories on population distribution, the size of the planet, and other findings about what she has seen.
When they arrived at the hut, it was dusk. Jim offered to start a fire, but Bamba said that would interfere with their visibility. Instead, she brought out a container filled with oil and a handful of dried, stringy vines.
“We’ll use these when we need to begin noting our findings for the evening,” she explained. “Actually, wait here. You can light one of these wicks if you want. I’ll bring out the tracking maps and you can familiarize yourself with what you will be observing later.”
Jim did as he was told and had a wick lit before the astronomer returned with a stack of thin bark sheets, placing them on the table. Then she set up a panel to block the light from the wick from the eyesight of her observation post. Jim looked through the stack of bark sheets, asked an occasional question, but mostly sat in silence trying to understand the markings and patterns as the sun fully disappeared and the sky became completely dark. He caught himself nodding off a few times, would walk over to where Bamba was standing to look where she was staring in the sky, and then he would go back to the table with all the maps.
Jim awoke with the landscape bathed in a silvery-white light from the eternally-full moon. He pushed himself up from the table and stumbled to where Dr. El Awakwa was writing on a piece of bark sheet with two others laying next to her.
“I’m sorry, Bamba,” Jim mumbled. “I must have dozed off. What time is it?”
“It’s a little past the middle of the night,” the astronomer said, not looking up from her work.
“How do you stay up all night?” Jim asked, sounding a bit more coherent.
“I’m used to it,” she answered. “Besides, as this is my job for the community, they understand I’ll be sleeping during the morning and early afternoon, so I actually get along well at night. Don’t worry, I haven’t had anyone who has been able to stay up all night with me so far.”
“Again, I’m sorry for dozing off. Maybe that nap will help me get through the rest of the night,” Jim responded. “So tell me how you decide what to track and how you map things out.”
The two spent the rest of the time in full moonlight looking at the star maps, with Bamba helping Jim locate and identify each of the objects she was tracking on the multiple bark sheets. The moon set about three-fourths of the way through the evening, and Bamba pointed out even more celestial objects that had been obscured by the bright moon light.
Eventually the sky lightened from black, to purple, to red, to orange and eventually the sun peeked through the trees, making all of the remaining stars disappear.
“OK, I’m going to finish my notes and observations. If there are any ships that come through, they nearly always come from that direction,” Bamba explained, pointing west and moving her arm east, “and disappearing over there. They should come through before the sun clears the tops of those trees.”
True to her assessment, when the sun was nearing the tops of the branches of the forest to the east, a white line appeared overhead, as if someone had taken a marker filled with paint and drew it across the morning sky.
“There!” shouted Jim, pointing at the contrail. “Is that it?”
Bamba looked up from her work.
“Yes,” she said with a big smile. “Yes, that is what I see more mornings than not. That one looks pretty distant, so it will likely disappear soon.”
And, again as she predicted, the line made its way across the sky with the fore escaping out-of-site and the body of the line dissipating in less time than it would take to walk fifty paces.
“It doesn’t last long,” Jim commented. “Kind of easy to miss unless you are looking for it.”
“It is. And were I not looking for it every morning right after sunrise, I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed since the trail …” Bamba paused and squinted into the sky. Jim turned to where she was looking.
A second contrail was forming. This one, however, was much wider than the first, much less distinct, and trailed across the sky much more slowly.
“Wow! I think I can actually see this ship, Bamba! This one must be landing near us.” Jim said. “Is one of the local colonies due for a second ship?”
The astronomer didn’t answer immediately. She stared at the object in front of the contrail, her mouth opening slightly.
“That isn’t like the other ships,” she noted. “Well, not like any I’ve seen. It’s moving much more slowly and has a different shape. But it’s a ship of some sort, for sure.”
“Do they have different designs, the alien ships?”
“Not that I can tell, but I’ve only seen two up close, and those are the two that landed at our site. This looks smaller. Shorter, in fact.”
“Maybe it is a new design.”
“I don’t know. I know enough to admit when something is different. And when I see something new, I’m not surprised. So maybe the aliens are starting to send different ships now. I don’t know what to make of it.”
The two stared at the contrail and, more directly, the small outline of the craft, as it passed overhead, the ship becoming more distinct and the contrail disappearing.
“Okay, it is definitely a different shape than the other alien ships,” the astronomer observed. “And, based on its path, I would also agree it looks to be getting ready to land in this region. This is amazing! I’ve never seen one move slowly enough that I could determine any distinct characteristics. Even the color is different. More silver and less gray.”
The strange arrival disappeared into the tree line on the west side of the observation hill.
“So how far away do you think it’s landing?” Jim asked.
Bamba brought her gaze from the sky to her co-observer. “I am better estimating distances of objects in space than of objects on this planet. It could be a half-day’s walk, a day, maybe two,” she said uncertainly.
“Well, let’s go find out!” Jim suggested.
“What? Just leave and try to find something that we don’t know where it is?” questioned Bamba. “What about the rest of the colony? What will we do for food? How will we do the nightly observations? I can’t carry all my bark, especially without it breaking!”
Jim looked at Bamba, then over to where the craft had disappeared, then back to his new friend.
“I’ll go,” he declared. “I’m pretty good at orienting myself outside. I would love the walk. And if I don’t find anything in two days, I’ll come back. It looks like I can follow along the river going west so I won’t get totally lost.”
“You would leave on your own?” Bamba asked. “What about food? How do you know the ship will still be there when you arrive?”
“I’ve done some hunting for sport when I was on Earth. I’m told that as long as the animals are in the area, they haven’t become totally afraid of humans as predators yet, so if I get lucky I might catch something. If not, I’ll get by for a few days on the fruit and nuts I can find along the way,” Jim said, almost as if he were convincing himself.
“You are not joking, are you?” Bamba asked.
Jim looked at her directly. “I’m not,” he answered. “I have a feeling about this. And if I want to find who or whatever is getting off that ship, I have a sense I need to go now.”
Bamba stared at him for a moment.
“Then let me give you some things to take,” she said, walking over to the hut on the hill. She came back and handed Jim a knife, a sloth-skin satchel, and a bladder pouch.
“This is for water,” she said, holding up the bladder pouch tied to a vine. “And this has some food, the rocks we’ve found useful to create sparks, and a nut case with some healing salve for cuts and punctures. It truly is amazing at taking the pain away and helps avoid infection. If you are walking through the trees and plants, you’ll want this.”
“I don’t want to take your items,” Jim started to say.
“You said you’ll be back in a few days,” Bamba responded. “You can give them back when you return. I just don’t know what I’ll tell the others.”
“Tell them the farmer has gone to look for a good place to plant some fields,” Jim said with a smirk.
“I’m sure that will make them feel good about what you are doing,” she replied, returning his smile.
Jim held out his hand. “Thank you, Bamba. I wasn’t expecting this, but it is definitely appreciated.”
The astronomer shook his hand, holding on a bit longer than typical. “You are welcome, Jim. And please, come back. We have too many people that have left our colony since we arrived. And I’m already seeing that trend with the people who arrived on your ship.”
“I promise. As soon as I find that ship, or if I don’t after two days, I’ll return and share what I discovered,” Jim said. “So, um, thanks again! And, I’ll see you soon.”
He looked around, gazed again where the craft had disappeared over the trees, and walked down the far side of the hill, towards the river.
By mid-morning, Jim sat next to the river on a large stone he had come across. He munched on some of the nuts Bamba had sent with him, and at some of the blue fruit he had picked from a bush nearby.
‘Why is the walking harder this way?’ Jim asked himself silently. ‘I don’t remember if the trees were closer going from camp to the hill. Well, we spent the whole time talking on the walk there so I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe this was a stupid move, Huffman. “I did some hunting back on Earth!” Really? You have a knife. No gun. No bow and arrow. You’ll have to sneak up on something asleep to capture it. Why not go back? No, I can’t. That would be embarrassing. Besides, I know there is something about that ship that needs to be found.“
He took a big breath in, got a small drink from the bladder, and stood up to continue his journey.
Before mid-day, Jim paused to get another drink. As he swallowed, he heard some rustling and what sounded like a whimper. He looked around and saw a bush ahead shaking slightly.
Jim approached cautiously. As he got closer, the whimpering sound went silent and the movement of the bush stopped. Jim took a few more steps and saw a tail sticking out of the bush. He focused and could make the outline of an animal in the bush. A few more steps, and Jim could determine what the people in Bloemfontein colony called a flying fox. It wasn’t anything like the Earth animal of the same name, but it was roughly the size of a medium Earth-based fox, with shorter fur, bigger and flatter paws, and a large stretch of skin between the arms and body with a smaller patch between the legs and belly, making it just aerodynamic enough to sail between trees and allow for some flapping to keep it aloft.
Jim pulled out the knife Bamba had given him, and came to within 10 paces of the animal, which now started giving a very low, very soft growl.
“OK, there, fella, I’m not here to hurt you,” Jim said in as calm a voice as he could, as he slowly approached. “You aren’t running away for some reason and I’m not used to seeing animals around here trying to hide in the middle of the underbrush, so something is up. And don’t worry, this knife isn’t for you. It makes me feel a bit more comfortable. I just want you to notice it in case you are trying something funny and want to surprise me.”
Jim stopped about three paces from the flying fox, who’s growls had grown louder.
“You know, friend, it looks like you are stuck,” Jim said. “If I’m assessing things correctly, you’ve gotten yourself into a briar bush and it is not letting go of you.” Jim paused, looked around, didn’t see any other animals in the area, and took another step towards the trapped animal.
“OK, here’s the deal,” he continued. “I’m going to see how bad of shape you are really in. Oh, wow. Not good at all. I’d say you have a dozen of those briars in different spots. What did you do? You should have stopped before heading headlong in there. Did you see something tasty and let your stomach think you could just squeeze through to get it? OK, I’m going to try to pull one out and see how it goes.”
Jim came up next to the fox, which now switched from a growl to something that was a cross between a hiss and a bark. The animal couldn’t turn its head back as the briars around its neck kept it facing forward.
“Take it easy there,” Jim said as he tried pulling a vine back. The flying fox tried to push its body forward, causing a spur to dig further into its left rear paw. “OK, I’ll need to cut some of these away. Hang on, fella – – or girl, maybe? I don’t know you all well enough but since I’m not seeing anything, I guess I shouldn’t assume.”
He cut the vine in two points and was able to pull it from the bush, pulling out the thorn stuck in the animal’s haunch. The flying fox continued to try and bite Jim, but couldn’t turn around.
Jim cut two more vines to expose the back quarter of the body, pulled out a thorn from the animal’s foot and three from its legs.
“Oh, those look nasty. No wonder you couldn’t get out,” Jim commented. “That’s gotta hurt. I’m wondering if this stuff might help.” He pulled out the nut case which held the salve Bamba had given him, rubbed some on the puncture wounds on the flying foxes body. The animal calmed slightly. Then he took hold of its paw, held it while the flying fox tried to pull it away, and dabbed some salve on it as well.
“There, that wasn’t bad, right?” Jim said. “OK, I’m going to get you out. I don’t want to eat you, so don’t fight me or try to bite, alright?”
He continued to snip away vines and remove them from the tail end forward, applying salve as needed. The hiss-barks stopped. Finally, the vines around its neck were snipped, Jim pulled out the thorns stuck in its shoulder and breast, and then backed up quickly, holding his knife in a defensive posture. The flying fox rushed forward but stopped after a few dozen paces, pain causing it to limp. It licked its wounds not treated, sniffed the salve where Jim had applied it, and warily watched Jim to see what the strange creature would do next.
Jim smiled and walked off in the direction towards his destination.
About mid-afternoon, Jim reached another stream and stopped to refill his bladder pouch. The day was reaching its hottest point, and he was drinking a lot due to the continued exertion and increased temperature. He looked around and noticed a shape in the shade of the trees he had just walked through.
The former farmer squinted and leaned his head forward, “Couldn’t be,” he mumbled.
He began to walk towards the shape, and a flying fox limped away into the cover of the underbrush. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s the same one!” Jim exclaimed to himself.
When the sun went behind the trees on the far side of the river he was following, Jim looked for a good place to spend the night. After finding a small clearing, he gathered some fallen branches, smoothed out a patch of ground, and grabbed some long grasses from next to the river that might soften where he would lay. Finally, he walked along the river bank, looking at rocks and trees. He spied his target and grabbed a reptile crawling up a tree trunk. It had the distinctive blue and white spotted skin that he remembered was safe to eat, partly from the images displayed in the alien craft before it landed a few days ago, but mostly because he recognized the animal as one they served at the Bloemfontein Colony before he went on this journey.
As Jim roasted his catch over the fire, he noticed movement outside of the fire light. Guessing what it might be, he tossed a leg into the darkness just on the edge of the clearing. Jim listened closely, heard a smallish animal approach, sniff, and then grab the leg and run off.
“So I hope that means you’ll alert me if something else shows up tonight,” Jim called into the darkness. “I’m really tired and sure I won’t hear anything and would appreciate a friend.”
The next morning, Jim awoke as dawn was peaking. He groggily looked around and noticed the leg bone of the reptile he had cooked from the night before.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then noticed next to the bone was a plump bird, recently killed.
Jim scanned the edge of the clearing and saw the flying fox sitting and looking at him, with a bird in its mouth, similar to the one lying near Jim. The flying fox looked at him, gave a soft bark and walked into the woods with its prey in its mouth.
“Looks like I’ve got a friend!”, Jim commented in the direction the fox left. “If you stick around, friend, I’ll start calling you Marvella. I’m sure Marvin would have gotten along quite well with you if you’re willing to put up with me so quickly.”
After restarting the fire and then cooking and eating the meatier part of the bird, Jim began his journey again.
He walked another half day, nothing eventful occurring, but still being followed by the flying fox he had freed from the briar bush the day before.
As the sun neared the high-point in the sky, Jim noticed some broken limbs at the top of trees in front of him. Jim stopped to assess the situation, giving Marvella the opportunity to go around the human and scamper up a tree. The flying fox sailed back to the ground and began pacing back and forth between Jim and the path of broken limbs ahead, hiss-barking again, although more softly this time.
“You don’t think I should go, eh, Marvella?” Jim said to the flying fox. “Well, Marvin learned this about me, so you will need to as well. I’m very stubborn and can’t be talked out of anything once I’ve decided. Well, almost anything. But I’m not pointing a gun at anyone this time, so I think all parties involved are safe.”
Having said that, Jim proceeded through the woods, and found a ship a thousand paces further ahead. The ship looked nothing like the alien landing craft from which Jim had embarked from a few days ago. This one looked more familiar to him for some reason.
Once again, the flying fox went in front of Jim, pacing back and forth, looking at the ship, and emitting guttural sounds.
“OK, you win, Marvella. We’ll wait and observe from back here. But I can only be patient for so long.”
As the sun reached mid-afternoon, a door to the craft opened, startling both creatures who had taken up comfortable positions in the undergrowth. A human man walked out, clothed in a style from Earth, looked around, then over to where Jim – and Marvella – were trying to hide behind some trees.
“Hello!”, the man called out. “My name is Matthew. If you can understand me, let me know. We’re from Earth and would like to introduce ourselves.”