“Men of Tratena!” the first man yells. “I have found the Woman!” His voice cracks hilariously at the last word. Yeah, these guys areexcited.
“We have found the Woman,” the man behind me corrects. “I saw her first.”
After a while, there’s a rustling in the jungle ahead, and two other men come towards us. “Whoever raises his voice in the jungle calls for his own death—oh!”
Word spreads, and soon I’m surrounded by a hundred towering, blue-striped cavemen. They’re all staring and keeping some distance from me, which I take as a good sign. Maybe this tribe is better than Kenz’ox thinks.
There’s movement in the crowd as the chief and shaman make their way through it.
They also stare, but the shaman is the first to collect himself. “I am Shaman Vort’ix of the Tretena tribe. This is our chief, the great Smirt’ax. It is said that you are the Woman. Is this true?”
I’m getting really tense. I’m actually not in a good position here. These guys can pretty much do what they want to me. But I have to act as well as I can. And a mythical Woman sent from the Ancestors wouldn’t answer a straight yes-or-no question. “If it is said, then perhaps it is so. Do I not look like a woman?”
The crowd is quiet. They haven’t heard a woman’s voice before, of course. I spot the man carrying the wicker basket at the back of the tribe.
“You do look…achm… look like one,” the shaman says, having to clear his voice midway. “From what we can see. But more mustbe revealed if we are to believe it.” His voice goes gruff again, and he’s practically asking me to strip naked for them.
“You are the shaman!” I say as calmly and loudly as I can. “Do you not know when you are in the company of the Woman? Perhaps there is another among you who is better suited to wear your tall hat!” I feel with all my instinct that I cannot go on the defensive here. I am a mythical being, a god sent from the big gods to do something important. I have to act like one.
All I have to do is channel Cate Blanchett inElizabeth, and I’ll be fine. “Take your hand off your sword! Do you think you can harmme?”
The shaman yanks his hand away from the hilt of his weapon as if stung. “Of course. Apologies.” He makes a secret sign with both hands.
Yeah, this guy is all fake. Just a regular tribesman who has to act as if he has special knowledge.
“You have an Envoy,” I state loudly. “I wish to speak with it. Bring it forward!”
A movement goes through the crowd as they all turn to look at the wicker basket.
“How does she know?” someone whispers. “It is the Woman.”
The men carrying the wicker basket come through the crowd.
Finally, the chief gathers his wits enough to speak. “I am the chief of the Tratena tribe. If you are the Woman, we are your servants. And your… worshippers.” He can barely get out the last word. He’s not much older than the others, maybe in his forties. He’s heavy-set and saggy, with shorter legs than most of his tribesmen and a sly look in his small eyes.
Yeah, they know what’s expected of them in that prophecy. I have to guide them away from that idea. “It is proper to wish to worship the Woman,” I tell them regally. “And yet, there is no need for it.”
The four men set the basket down.
“Open!” I command. “Let the Envoy out!”
Obviously puzzled, the chief opens the lid.
Inside there’s a sheen of a black hull the size of a carry-on suitcase, with red and yellow stripes here and there. There are four propellers, but there is room for six. Two places are empty. There are scratches and gouges and dents in the metal, and it really looks much the worse for wear.
Damn, I hope he still works.
“Dex?” I ask. “Are you awake?” I speak English, which seems appropriate for a legendary being, and it’s the only language that I know Dex knows.
“I am awake,”the AI-controlled drone says. “You are still alive, Theodora. I am relieved.”His voice is still male, but it has lost the warm resonance that I remember. Now it’s tinny and scratchy, and it sounds more like someone radioing in from Antarctica.
“I have been in the saucer,” I tell him. “I was trying to start it. But it won’t. Do you know how?”
“No.”
Shit.I didn’t expect that. This could all be in vain. “Are you sure? There’s still light, and it sometimes hums.”
“Yes. I remember how I left it. But it stopped reacting to the controls. That’s why it crashed. I was barely able to set it down in the ocean, skipping along the surface until it finally crashed on a beach. I have been trying to find someone who might know how it works, but I was unsuccessful.”
