She believed him when he said he didn’t have the stomach to kill, suspecting that somehow the indoctrination had failed to take. But this turn of events put his life in more jeopardy than hers. Oncepeople learned the big vaporizer in the sky was gone, and the alien numbers had been drastically reduced, it would be open season with no hunting limits. People didn’t have electricity, but they had guns and plenty of ammo.
Anybody with a gun would try to shoot him. If he defended himself, the person would die. She would hate for him to be killed, but Earth couldn’t afford to lose more people. Except maybe colluders. Eradicating those vermin might do humanity a favor. She hoped the St. Louis Progg had caught up with Zack.
“What will you do now?”What amIgoing to do?Newpossibilities had opened up since the world had gotten suddenly and considerably safer, although the danger hadn’t completely passed. The remaining Progg were probably unaware their invasion had been canceled due to illness.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“Let’s go get food. We don’t have to decide right this second.”
“All right,” he said dispiritedly.
Her emotions skipped all over the place. Kind and empathetic, she felt for people who were hurting, and Rok had suffered a disheartening blow. He’d gottenconfirmation his brother lived—but learned he’d been abandoned by his people.
But she couldn’t forget his people had murderedbillionsof hers.
“Kevin, come on!” she called.
After settling the dog in the carrier, she checked the local street map she’d gotten at the Big Creek Chamber of Commerce in the square. It was one of those advertising circulars aimed at tourists and out-of-towners. Local businesses bought ads, and, in return, their business was marked on the map.
Rok wheeled his bike over. “What are you looking at?”
“A local map. I’m hoping I’ll see a grocery store.”
She scanned the alphabetical index. There was a long list of Bs. Big Creek Animal Hospital, Big Creek Bar and Grill, Big Creek General Hospital, Big Creek RV repair, Big Creek Supermarket! Located at F-4. With her finger, she followed the vertical and horizontal axes. “If we turn left at the cross street, there’s a grocery store several blocks up.” She did not look forward to entering the store. “I hope you don’t mind mice.”
“What aremice?”
“They’re tiny rodents. Vermin. They shit all over everything. They reproduce like crazy. They’ve invaded grocery stores.” In small towns, anyway. Larger cities were much less infested, the rats, mice, cockroaches, and all manner of vermin only now starting to return after having been exterminated along with the people. “You don’t have vermin on Progg-Res?”
“Nothing like what you’ve described. We don’t even have a word for those things.”
The Proggwerethe vermin, spreading death and destruction across the galaxy.
“Not everything translates,” he said. “What you call an automobile, we call a ground crawler. They’re not exactly the same, but both are rolling motorized vehicles. Some concepts or names have no comparable words, so our translator substitutes a description.”
“So, water grassland isn’t the name itself; it’s a descriptive approximation.”
“Possibly.”
“Let’s go to the store. I’ll show you some mice.”
She hopped on her bike. At the corner, she hung a left onto Main Street. Along the boulevard, they passed a hospital, a hardware store, and a donut shop, all named after the town. “Can Big Creek be translated directly?” she asked.
“Yes. We don’t have a specific place called Big Creek, but we do have words for creek and words for large.”
But water grassland was a description. So, what might it stand for?I wonder how they would describe Palm Beach? Tree with fronds on sandy shore? Or Hollywood? Prickly bush of fibrous material often seen at a holiday celebrating an Earth religion?
Businesses had posted handwritten signs in the windows. WE SHALL WIN and DEFEAT THE ALIEN BASTARDS.
We did. We defeated the alien bastards.Technically, a disease did, but I’ll take the win,she thought and resumed trying to crack the code.
Water. Water. Water could signify ocean, sea, lake, river, rain, pond, pool.Riverdale, Lakewood, Liverpool. Ocean City.
Grassland could mean prairie? Or Savannah.No Savannahs around here though.Prairie didn’t feel right either.Think smaller. What else has grass? Golf courses. Parks. Football fields.
Field. Water…field?
“Springfield!” She braked. “He went to Springfield.”
