He sighs. “I wonder what got into Sprub’ex. He always had a longing for the shore, but we liked that he often went to the jungle to hunt. Perhaps we should have realized that he was really trying to become a member of a jungle tribe.”
“Is that what he did?” I ask.
“The Deep only knows,” the chief says. “It’s perhaps not strange that he was close with the Adropo. But it is strange that he broke into your hut and tried to steal you. He wasn’t that reckless and crazy before. Well, I suppose you never really know a man. Nothing you want here? Very well.” He closes the door. “It pains me to have to cast him out. But it was a terrible crime. On behalf of the Bradek tribe, I apologize for his actions.”
“It was only Sprub’ex,” I tell him. “Not the tribe.”
“As the man lives in his tribe, so the tribe lives in the man,” the chief sighs. “I will cast him out tonight. We usually prefer to have the man defend himself, but Sprub’ex has plainly chosen another tribe anyway.”
The chief walks away.
Still chewing on the extremely fibrous stalk, I lean one shoulder on the side of the hut. I suddenly notice that this is the closest platform to the mysterious one, the one that Crat'ax claimed was for worship.
From here I get a better view of it. It’s much more sturdily built than these other platforms, with supports and braces as thick as my waist. It’s not really a platform, either, because it doesn’t have a plank floor. It looks most of all like a wooden cage with most of it under water.
As I stare, again I’m sure I see movement there. It’s something big, I think. Big and dark, but too far away for me to be able to make out exactly.
Is it a prison? Then why place it underwater? That seems too cruel.
Probably it’s some kind of sea monster. But if so, why couldn’t he just say that?
Looking at that platform makes me uncomfortable, for some reason. As if there’s some terror nearby that my most primal instincts recognize.
I shudder involuntarily. Now I want to look at something nice.
I turn my back and quickly follow the sound of the metallic banging.
Crat'ax is hammering on a piece of iron, sparks flying, muscles flexing with each stroke, sweat glistening on his body. The air shimmers over the red-hot coals of the forge beside him.
I desperately wish I’d had a camera, because this image of an alien caveman would become legendary on Earth.
He sees me as I approach and lowers his hammer. “My woman is back.”
“My smith is working,” I counter, reaching out with one hand to touch the side of his massive shoulder. “What are you making?”
15
- Crat'ax-
Callie saunters towards me with her interesting gait, made the tiniest bit awkward because her hips are so wide. It all makes my chest ache.
I take the little wad of compressed seaweed out of one ear.
“These will be hooks,” I tell her, and lift one red-hot piece of iron with the tongs. “For the splix run. Later I’ll make blades for another spear for some brave tribesman to use. Maybe it will be a boy. The older men do seem to prefer the hooks and lines for catching splix. And this…” I pick up the blade, “will be your knife. Later I will attach a handle to it. Don’t touch it, it’s still hot.”
Callie studies the blade. “It’s very long.”
I put the blade back on the work table. “It’s the right length for you. I will make the handle thin, to fit your hand. I will also make it so that the knife can be attached to a spear. You can take part in catching splix with it.”
“You think of everything,” she says, and looks at me in a way that makes me forget where I am.
“I… yes,” I manage, as memories of her naked body flash in front of my eyes.
“I wonder,” she goes on. “The splix. They are about this big.” She shows the length of a splix with her hands. “Do they bite? Are they venomous? They have spikes?”
“I’m sure they’ll bite if they get a chance,” I tell her as I pick up a piece of iron in the tongs and stick it in the glowing charcoal. “They do have teeth, but only small ones. Their spikes are soft, and they are not venomous. They’re harmless, part of the great bounty that the Deep grants us. Why?”
“Because I talked to Gren’ix about farming, and then I thought about other things from Earth. Like fishing.”
