The rugged, mountainous land was already deep in evening shadows when the Manessa Kwi carefully descended, by instruments, onto the small, level landing site.
Kibi already knew no large animals were about as she stepped through the hatch. Tall pine trees soared upward all around her. A ring of stones and logs, even a small pile of firewood, showed that others had camped here. The sound of bubbling and trickling water came through the trees, and she glimpsed the mineral formations of hot springs a short walk to the west. A hint of sulfur tickled her nose.
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Activating the bright light of her mission bracelet, Kibi strolled the entire landing site and campfire area, seeing more geothermal activity in other directions, but no dangers. She returned to the ship where Ilika stood casually in the hatchway, keeping an eye on both her and their guests.
Just then, Timod Gor finished counting the gold coins. “Half!” he said firmly, gesturing at the two equal piles, each containing about twenty coins.
One odd coin sat alone.
Ilika picked up the odd coin and handed it to Risan Gor. She smiled, as did Timod Gor.
Timod Gor walked about the landing site in a daze for several minutes, as the last thing he remembered seeing outside the hatch was the shipwreck on the ice shelf. His pride got the better of him when Boro began collecting firewood, and before the evening light completely faded, they brought in a good supply.
Ilika taught Rini and Sata the bracelet code that produced a beam of light so intense it quickly ignited dry pine needles. Kibi dug out a cooking pot designed for outdoor use, poured in a refrigerated container of left-over soup, and carried it to the fire.
“There must be a kingdom nearby, or maybe just a tribe,” Boro speculated,
“because of the campfire circle.”
“Not for a thousand kilometers or more,” Ilika replied. “This place is only known and used by visitors from Nebador. That little landing site on the highest mountain was another. They are sprinkled around the planet.
Manessa can tell you about the others.”
“Neba . . . dor?” Timod Gor asked with questioning eyes.
“Our . . . land,” Boro explained slowly.
“Here?”
“No. Far away,” Ilika said with a vague wave of his arm.
“I . . . home . . . walk,” Timod Gor said firmly, pointing north. “Risan Gor home walk.”
Ilika sighed. “If my guess about his home is correct,” Ilika explained to his crew, “we’re on the wrong continent.”
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“We could print a map of the world and show him,” Sata suggested.
“Even better, I think Manessa has a simple map like the ones actually used by sailors today.” Ilika turned to Timod Gor. “Come. I show map.”
The rest of the crew, along with Risan Gor, lingered by the fire for another hour. When they finally started yawning and returned to the ship, they found Timod Gor at the table intently studying his new map, bag of gold at his elbow. Ilika had marked their current location, the southern edge of a large continent near the bottom of the map.
“Kibi and I will sleep up here,” Ilika announced. “Boro, you’re in charge of putting out the fire.”
He
nodded.
“Tomorrow we can play in hot water,” the captain assured.
Sata grinned, then yawned.
After breakfast, with hot springs of every temperature calling to them, all five crew members were ready to shed their clothes. Ilika, however, insisted they keep on their underwear in the hot springs because of their guests.
Even so, Timod Gor spoke sternly to Risan Gor, and she pouted, held her doll close, and found some sticks to play with. He made himself comfortable against a tree near the fire ring and pulled a book from his leather bag.
“Wee!” Sata shrieked as she jumped from a rock into the largest pool, pleasantly warm. Kibi, Boro, and Rini came after, while Ilika helped Mati into a smaller, warmer pool.
A few minutes later Risan Gor crept down the trail, stood for a minute with a questioning look, then shed her clothes and jumped in. Soon she was laughing and playing along with everyone else.
A quarter hour later, Timod Gor looked up from his reading and noticed that Risan Gor was nowhere to be seen. He barked a command, and she quickly dressed and dragged herself back to the campfire circle, where she sat glumly on a log.
Once he was deep into his book again, she crept away. She tried hard to keep from making any sound as she played in the wonderful water, but soon forgot all about Timod Gor and squealed with delight along with the others.
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Twice more Timod Gor called the five-year-old girl back from her play, and twice more she returned to the hot pools as soon as she could slip away.
As noon approached, Timod Gor was no longer aware of anything but his reading, turning pages passionately and rocking back and fourth as he devoured the text. Both Ilika and Boro tried to get his attention to join them for lunch, but he didn’t respond. They shrugged, and set a plate and cup within reach.
After lunch, as the crew of the Manessa Kwi was getting ready to look for more pools, perhaps a little hotter, Timod Gor began to read aloud from his book. None of the crew members could understand a word. Risan Gor frowned and followed her new friends.
The girl cringed every time she heard Timod Gor’s voice grow loud, but each time it was merely some dramatic line from his book. She quickly returned to the water play.
As mid-afternoon passed, Timod Gor arrived at the hot springs and began reading to them, loudly and passionately, often with a finger shaking or a fist clenched tightly. They tried to get his attention and explain that they didn’t know his language, but he just glared at them before returning his eyes to the page. He no longer seemed to care what Risan Gor was doing, and looked at her with the same judgmental eyes.
After a while, they tried moving down the trail to a different pool, but he followed, reading as he walked.
Mati soon announced she was returning to the ship to do some piloting simulations. Others offered to come with her, but she begged them not to, unless they could guarantee the noise would not follow.
The venomous reading continued. The man’s finger wagging was, as often as not, pointed in Risan Gor’s direction. Now red-faced with shame, she climbed out of the pool and started crying.
After a few more minutes, during which no one enjoyed themselves and some had fingers in their ears, Risan Gor mumbled, “Toilet,” and dashed toward the ship.
The heated words poured from Timod Gor for another minute, then abruptly stopped. Ilika and most of his crew watched the man’s back recede
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down the trail, big smiles on their faces.
“Whew!” Boro breathed. “What was that all about?”
“I didn’t understand a word,” Ilika admitted. “But I’m glad it’s over.”
“It reminded me of . . . a priest trying to stir up the people,” Kibi shared,
“you know, sell them wood and oil to go burn some poor innocent monster.”
Rini and Sata both howled with laughter.
“I think we should take the book away from him,” Kibi suggested. “I’ll put him to sleep, you hide the book, Ilika.”
“Or use ion drive three to get him home tonight,” Boro asserted, “before dinner, if possible.”
Ilika sighed. “He hasn’t yet shown me where he lives on the map. He just stared at it last night until I dimmed the lights.”
“We could pick a place,” Sata suggested with a mischievous grin, “like that little island with nothing but birds, and tell him that’s where he’s going unless he tells us.”
Ilika suddenly raised a hand for silence. “Was Mati wearing a mission bracelet?”
“Um . . . no,” Rini recalled.
“Damn!” Ilika cursed.
Just as he scrambled out of the pool, he saw the Manessa Kwi rise into the air and slowly move over the treetops toward the northeast, away from the landing site and the hot springs.
Deep Learning Notes
There is nothing high-tech about starting a fire with a bright beam of light, as any kid, who has played with a magnifying glass on a sunny day, knows.
Some of the many mysteries in our own history are the places, sprinkled all over the world, that seem to have something to do with aircraft or spacecraft, long before we had either one. Sometimes they are figures that can only be seen from the air, such as on the plain of Nazca in Peru. Sometimes they involve knowledge about the Earth that might have been gained from a high
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altitude, such as the Piri Reis map. Occasionally they are just primitive pictures of people with bubbles over their heads. Finally, the world contains many flat, level constructions that we can’t explain. None of these things can be proven to have anything to do with aircraft or spacecraft, but neither can the possibility be disproven. They will probably remain mysteries.
In your opinion, which would have been more respectful of the passengers: to FORBID Risan Gor from playing in the water because of Timod Gor’s wishes, to HELP her sneak away without Timod Gor’s knowledge, or to remain neutral as they did?
What kind of book do you think Timod Gor was reading?
At the end of the chapter, when Ilika cursed, what mistake did he realize he had made?