“You don’t want me to tell my tribesmen about the other women,” I sum up what I think she means.
“Yes,” she says. “Not tell. You not tell?”
“I will not tell themnow,” I assure her, because I have to think about it. “But at some time, I may have to. Iama tribesman.”
She puts a cool hand on my forearm. “Crat'ax. I say this, thinking you will not tell the tribe: There is one woman, Theodora. As I told you. She wait for me. Now she afraid I am dead. You and I go to the Plood ship tomorrow, she see I am not dead.”
I dip the paddle into the stream to slow us down. I want us to deal with this topic before we get to the mouth of the stream, where men might see and hear. “No.”
9
- Callie-
“Why?” I ask, knowing that his answer will determine a lot of what I do from now on.
“We will go to the Plood ship,” Crat'ax rumbles. “But not tomorrow. The splix could run at any time. I must be here for that. It will take two days to get to the Plood ship, because of the current. It is much slower going that way than back here again. After the splix run, and after the trade day with the other tribes, we will go. You and I. Nobody else will come.”
I understand most of the words, and the others I can mostly guess. The boys eagerly taught me a lot of their language, completely without judgement.
It’s not the answer I wanted, but it could have been worse. My problem is that I don’t really know what I want. Do I want to stay here with this ocean tribe? Theodora almost certainly won’t want to. But do I want to stay in the saucer with her, when I know that there is a tribe not that far away? Will that even be my choice to make, now that this tribe knows about the saucer?
It’s too many unknowns. Probably the best outcome would be if Crat'ax came with me, and he would live with Theodora and me in the saucer. It’s almost like a little village already, with food stores, clean water, a pottery wheel, and a small forge. Theodora might not like it, but I feel that we’d be better off with one hyper-competent caveman living with us.
And I’m not sure I want to be without his calming presence on this planet. That low-level panic I felt at all times is dulled now, when he’s around. Even the attack by that damn raptor didn’t turn me into a sobbing mess. It was as if I knew he would handle it. And that gave me some kind of mental space to help by throwing those pieces of iron at the meteorite.
“Nobody else will come,” I echo. “We go right after splix run.” Probably a few days won’t matter that much. I can get a better look at this tribe, and give Theodora better information, so we can make a well-informed choice. And I don’t mind being away from the saucer. It’s a creepy thing, its blue glow and tilted floor always reminding us that we were kidnapped by those damn Plood.
I can take this as a pleasant vacation, among huge cavemen who treat me like… well, like a space alien. As long as I have Crat'ax to protect me, that is.
Crat'ax paddles us forwards again. “Agreed. Just you and me.”
The surface of the bay glitters among the trees in front of us when Crat'ax growls deep in his throat.
“What is it?” I ask, fearing another dinosaur attack. But when I follow his gaze, what I see is even worse.
There are four cavemen standing on the bank of the stream, yellow-striped, and with long swords in their belts.
Crat'ax keeps us closer to the other bank, but the stream isn’t that wide. He stands up. “Men of the Adropo tribe!” he calls to them. “You are on Bradek turf. Are you so eager for the Day of trade that you want it to start early?”
“Greetings, man of Bradek!” one of the yellow-striped ones replies. “You seem to have caught more than just splix!” His accent is different from that of Crat'ax and his friends, but more similar to Sprisk’s.
I’m fully aware that I can’t pass as a caveman, not even a boy. The proportions are just all wrong, and these guys must be able to see that I’m a woman. Still, I grab the thin leather sheet and put it around my shoulders to hide as much of my shape as I can.
“The Deep gives what it wants,” Crat'ax replies. “Also aliens, it seems.”
“An alien?” another yellow-striper says. “What kind of alien?”
“The kind that’s deadly if you come too close,” Crat'ax says, and casually shows them his spear. “Leave our turf, warriors of Adropo. Then come for the Day of trade when you see the usual signal. Perhaps the alien will be gone by then, and you can safely approach our boats.”
“Is it a woman?” one of them yells. “She might be ours!”
Crat'ax laughs, but there’s no mirth in it. “Then you should take better care of her! She’s mine now. Shall I tell my men to chase you off our turf? You’ll find there are more of us than of you.”
The Adropo men stare at us as we make a turn in the stream and have the bay in front of us. I don’t think being seen by those guys was a good thing. Now another tribe knows about me.
“Who are they?” I ask.
“Don’t worry,” Crat'ax growls as he paddles fast. “They’re more snarl than teeth. They are a jungle tribe, and don’t know about the Deep. They’ve come early to the Day of trade, and dared intrude on our turf. We do usually allow it when the trade is nearing. And yet it tells us that they are eager to not miss that day. Probably their village is running low on food, and they want to trade for our splix.”
