“Your people have been to Earth before,” I accused as he took us along a well maintained path up the side of the cliff.
“We have,” he confirmed. “All will be explained, but first, I must get you to the Council chambers to discuss your arrival here and its impact on this pre-flight society. They’ve already had their natural development stunted by severe climate change and the unauthorized incursions of slavers.”
That silenced my questions and the mutterings of my friends as they heard his words, as the import of what he was saying hit us. Uncomfortable thoughts filtered through my mind. Had we unwittingly brought doom to those who’d rescued us by introducing viruses that would sweep through their numbers and decimate them? Had we likewise been exposed to things that, if we were returned to Earth, would start a pandemic and kill off large swaths of our own people?
And the sudden climate change - I knew in my bones without asking that he must be referring to this ice age somehow, but I was unsure if he meant that the ice and snow came quite suddenly due to some natural catastrophe or something else, like their ice caps were melting really fast due to warming and the sea levels were going to drown the world as the native inhabitants knew it.
My legs were aching, and I was puffing for breath by the time we made it halfway up the cliff, where the path widened before the mouth of yet another cave. Like the one to the chamber in that underground tunnel beneath the crystalline trees, there was a double door across the entrance, with an oblong key panel set into the frame. Our guide’s slender, triple jointed fingers danced along the panel, entering in the sequence to unlock the door. I turned to glance out at the sea before following him in, blinking when I spotted what appeared to be a boat bobbing in the water. The cold sunlight glinted off the hull, and I realized with a start that the boat either was made of those crystalline trees or metal.
I’d thought I’d understood the world I’d found myself in, that it was a medieval sort of society living sheltered within a cavern. That might have been true of Gree-Gree’s people, but it didn’t explain the dudes in the forest and the casualness of them all with the more advanced tech we now saw in use. In fact, the more I saw of this world and the people on it, the more fucking questions I had.
The doors parted, and we followed our guide into a high tech wonderland that looked very advanced indeed. Another gray green, silver jumpsuited figure tapped at a clear glass screen before him. Whatever he was seeing must have only been visible on his side, which was pretty cool, though the familiarity of having seen similar screens on contemporary TV shows shook me. Just how well did our government and tech bros know these aliens? Oh my God, was Roswell true in some way? Had they taken possession of a crashed alien spacecraft only to befriend the aliens who came looking for their missing ship and crew?
The alien stopped their movements and said something that sounded like gibberish to our guide, the words sibilant as they rolled off his tongue. Our guide answered back in the same language, and the new one nodded, gesturing towards yet another door set into a wall towards the back, off to the left hand side. Our guide indicated we should follow him, and he led us towards the door in question. Alrighty then. It looked like we were going through it, hopefully to find out the answers to all of our questions.
I tightened my grip on Gree-Gree’s hand as we drew close enough that I’d have to let go in order to walk through the door. I just hoped this wasn’t the end of what was blossoming between me and my gorgeous yeti. My life had changed so much so fast, and he was central to my everything. No, I realized with sudden clarity as he pulled his hand from mine and gently urged me forward with his other hand on the small of my back. He had become my everything. I’d gone straight from crush into head over heels in love.
28
GRIGHRI
I followed my love through the new door, our companions following close behind. There, a huge image projected upon the glass tablet suspended from the ceiling displayed the council itself.
“So, it’s true your people took in humans from a crashed Pronok ship,” the one on the far left said.
Pronok. My mind stuttered for a moment until I realized that was the type of demon that had flown the metal grak, which was being called a ship like the ones the locals here sailed upon the frigid waters.
“Yes. I was on my way to check my traps when my Rah-bee stumbled towards me. He was moments away from collapsing and dying in the snow,” I replied. “So, I wrapped him up and took him back to the village. Chief Grishk sent more hunters out to look for more of his kind, check my traps for me, and bring back useful pieces of the grak.”
“Your Rah-bee?” the one in the middle said, tilting his head to look at me questioningly, his black eyes slowly blinking as he did so. It was most disconcerting.
“At first, Grighri was concerned that Rah-bee was but a youngling in the flush of late youth,” Healer Grokah replied for me. “After examining him, I was able to reassure him that such did not appear to be the case. A conclusion supported by the fact that once he was clean and Grighri could scent him properly, it became quite clear that Rah-bee is his mate.”
That caused a bit of a stir amongst them, and they began to murmur back and forth in their own language. Finally, one sitting to the right of the one in the middle addressed us once more, or rather, to Rah-bee.
“Arr yoo awherr thaht Grigri iz klaimeng yoo az hiz mayt, Rah-bee?”
Rah-bee went stock still for a moment, then turned to look at me, his face filled with excitement and what could only be joy. He leaned into me, as if seeking reassurance. I slid my arm around him, tugging him in even closer, and he sighed happily. Then, glancing back up, he replied, “Aye wuznt buht thahtz uh loduh awf mie miend. Ahv fahlun fohr himm.”
Sahm gasped from beside me, while the others in his friend group merely nodded as if not all that surprised by whatever he’d just revealed.
“Thaht iz purhahpz just az wehl az wee kanoaht bie lahw retuhrn yoo hohm. Yur wurld iz tu ahdvahnsd hand eet reesks inndaygureng yur deeveluhpmuhnt.”
The council conferred once more, as the Ahsrree looked shocked, some of them wearing looks of resignation, while others looked angry. They wisely kept silent, however, not wishing to provoke the Sky Gods’ censure. Then the Sky God in the middle, who seemed to be the chief amongst them, spoke once more.
“Very well. Grighri, seeing as your hoomun mate is happy with you, we will not seek to relocate him.”
I bowed my head. “Thank you. Hoomun? He said they were the Ahsrree .” This had been a much easier task than I had ever imagined. I hadn’t had to beg or plead, or demand that I be taken wherever they moved Rah-bee to. He was staying with me, and we would return to our village and the cottage that we shared.
“They are called hoomuns.”
I memorized that, to make sure I did not make a mistake calling them the wrong thing again.
Hroash stepped forward. “What about the others?”
“Yes, are they staying with us as well?” Rimbet asked.
The one in the middle let out a soft hum, then panned his gaze across each of the hoomuns.
