Trident's Forge (10 page)

Standing just inside the gate among a crowd of taller Atlantians, Mei watched the proceedings. Benson's spirit soared. From what he could see, she looked healthy and unharmed. And he could see quite a bit, considering just how little Mei was wearing. Her hips and forearms were covered with the same skirts as the natives, and her hair was adorned with similar decorations. Her shoulders, chest, and waist, however, were completely bare. Judging by her tan, she hadn't been wearing much else for quite a long time.

She'd never been very modest, but she'd been little more than a teenager when they'd met, still in her adolescence. Motherhood had done much to settle her fully into her adult body, but Benson still thought of her as a girl.

Korolev asked.

Benson answered.

Mei's eyes lit up as soon as she noticed him. Benson wanted to run over and hug her, but it would have to wait. Valmassoi was working his way through some boilerplate introduction speech, chewing on the foreign words his plant translator was feeding him. The chief's expression and posture was hard to read, but seemed noncommittal.

Benson's stomach churned uncomfortably as a chill ran through his body. He really wasn't feeling well. His first thought was heat stroke, but it hardly seemed warm enough for it. Had he been drinking enough water?

Valmassoi finished his speech, and the chief took his turn to make his welcome announcement. Benson's plant spit his words back out in English, but he was starting to feel a little dizzy and had a great deal of difficulty concentrating. Apparently, the chief went by Tuko and was really going on about Cuut, who as best as anyone could guess was one of their trinary of major gods, the smitey one with a nasty habit of throwing asteroids whenever he wasn't happy about something or another.

Tuko held out both of his four-fingered hands to Valmassoi, palms out, and waited expectantly. The administrator looked like he'd missed a beat, unsure of what to do next. Hesitantly, Valmassoi fell back on habit and mirrored Tuko. The chief touched their palms, laced their fingers, then leaned in and pressed their foreheads together. Once it was over, Valmassoi forced an admirably convincing smile, not that Tuko would be able to appreciate it. Then again, Mei and her people had been here for months already. Who knew how much the villagers had learned about their guests in that time.

Valmassoi, appearing to be back on firmer ground, extended his right hand. “You honor me with the greeting of your people. Let me honor you in return with the traditional greeting of ours.”

With the same trepidation Valmassoi had just shown, Tuko put his hand out. The administrator took it and shook it firmly.

Korolev said through the security detail's private line.

Atwood snapped.

Valmassoi started escorting Chief Tuko down the line, making introductions. Each person in turn went through both the Atlantian two-hands-and-a-forehead-rub, then a good oldfashioned human handshake, but Benson wasn't paying attention. He was beginning to feel dizzy. It felt like a swarm of fish were doing hot laps inside his stomach.

Before he knew it, or was in any way prepared, Tuko was standing in front of Benson with outstretched arms, waiting for him to do the same. A bead of cold sweat rolled down the side of Benson's temple.

“And this is Bryan Benson,” Valmassoi said in questionable Atlantian. “One of our, ah, warriors.”

“I, um, don't feel so well,” Benson pleaded.

Valmassoi ignored him. “Don't be rude to our host, Mr Benson.”

Benson swallowed hard. The saliva slid down the back of his throat like a wad of peanut butter before dropping into the boiling cauldron that had become his stomach. Weakly, he reached out his arms and held up his palms. Tuko leaned in and pressed his clammy, four-fingered hands into Benson's and squeezed. His fingers felt boneless, like shaking hands with sausage links, or wriggling worms. The momentary flicker of revulsion Benson felt at the alien's hands was all the excuse his weakened constitution needed.

He turned away from the chief just in time. With a mighty heave, Benson's guts inverted themselves, sending a powerful stream of vomit and bile onto the pavement. Another wave of nausea followed just to emphasize the point before Benson collapsed to his hands and knees and continued retching onto the ground until he was dry as a desert well.

With an unreadable expression on his face, Tuko turned and spoke at Valmassoi.

“Is this also part of your traditional greeting?”

A
fter the
… memorable happenings of the afternoon, everyone retreated inside the gates to settle in and prepare for the evening meal. The sick human, Benson was zer name, had been taken off to the human shelter at the edge of the village where Mei was busy looking after zer. Mei apparently knew this Benson quite well. Even with Kexx's limited knowledge of human expression and range of emotion, ze could tell that Mei was very upset by Benson's sudden illness.

With the rest of the fresh arrivals tied up with the evening meal, Kexx stopped by the human's shelter to check on Mei and zer new ward.

“How is ze doing?” Kexx asked as soon as ze had Mei's attention.

“The idiot?” Mei snapped.

“Your friend, Benson?”

“Yes, the idiot.” This was accompanied by quickly opening and closing zer free hand, imitating the flashing pattern that showed anger.

“Do you know what's ze's sick with?”

“Not sick. Ate yulka seeds without cooking them first. Who does that?”

“Some of your people, as I recall.”

“
We
were starving.
Ze
was snacking.”

It was true enough. In the days after they'd landed, Mei's people were hungry enough to try anything once. The yulka seeds hadn't been a problem for the humans at first, cooked as they were into breads, soups, and the like. But there was something about the raw seeds that really didn't agree with the human stomach, as poor Benson was the most recent to learn.

“How do you know for sure it was yulka seeds?”

“I saw little bits of them on the road where Benson threw up.”

“Will ze be all right?”

Mei shrugged. “Nothing strong tea and sleep won't fix.” Mei started pulling the decorations out of zer, ah,
hair
. The long, black filaments were at once exotic and beautiful. A new fashion among some of the village's adolescents was to mash up yulka stalks, then dye the fibers with ink and weave them into their head crests to imitate the human look. The style was met with great disapproval by the village elders, which of course only enhanced its appeal for the young.

Hair. Kexx tossed the human word around inside zer head. When Mei and zer people appeared six months earlier, they'd been treated by most of the village as a curiosity. Strange castaways from across the ocean, but lost, almost utterly out of their element, dependent on the charity of the G'tel, and easily managed.

The day's events had changed that calculation rather dramatically. Apart from a short report to Tuko, Kuul had been quiet ever since zer confrontation outside the village, which was itself an unprecedented occurrence. Kexx was intensely curious to know just how they'd managed it.

“Mei, can I ask you something else?” Ze gave Kexx a little nod and a
go ahead
hand gesture. “Kuul told us about a weapon one of your people used. Ze called it a thunder club. Kuul said it shattered his spear with just a sound. Do you know anything about it?”

“Not just sound.” Mei shook zer head. “And it's not a club. It's a
gun
.”

“A… guun?” Kexx attempted the new word.

“Gun,” Mei corrected. “It throws tiny, ah, spears. Smaller than my finger. We call them
bullets
. Noise is just side effect.”

“All right. But how can such small spears do that much damage? And why didn't Kuul say ze saw them?”

“Ze couldn't. Bullets go very fast. Faster than eyes can follow. Farther and more accurate than any spear, too.”

“How many of these… bullets?” Mei nodded approvingly. “How many bullets can these guns throw?”

“Fullhands, or fullhands of fullhands. Depends on what kind. And they reload fast.”

“How can our warriors defend themselves from your guns?”

Mei laughed, but there wasn't much humor in it. “Take them while they're asleep and pray no one wakes up.”

“And are these guns your most powerful weapons?”

Ze was silent for a while before answering, like ze was remembering something. “No,” Mei said finally. “Not even close. Very good at killing each other.”

Mei's tone sent a shiver running through Kexx's body. Ze hadn't been bragging, or boasting, or bluffing when ze'd told Kuul that zer warriors couldn't beat the humans twice. It wasn't even confidence Mei had shown. It was fear. Ze knew exactly what zer people were capable of, perhaps had even seen it, and it haunted zer.

“But they didn't,” Kexx said gently.

“Didn't what?”

“Didn't kill anyone. They shattered Kuul's spear, but that's all. If what you're saying is true, and you've never lied to me before, then they could have killed Kuul and every last one of zer warriors and taken control of the village already. If their advantage is so overwhelming, why didn't they?”

Mei took a moment to collect herself before answering. “We've tried to be better.” Mei looked back over zer shoulder at Benson sleeping off the sickness on a cot. “And Benson-san wouldn't stand for it anyway.”

“You trust zer that much?”

“With my life,” Mei said without hesitation. “With all our lives.”

“But ze isn't their leader.”

“That doesn't stop Benson.”

Again, not a boast, just a recitation of a self-evident fact.

“Thank you, Mei. I should get back to the temple before the evening cleansing. Take care of your friend. I might have some questions for zer when ze's ready.”

Mei waved zer hand. “Go take your bath.”

Kexx bowed slightly, then jogged back down the hill toward the temple. It was a little joke between them. Coming from anyone else, calling the ritual of purifying the body and soul of the day's dirt before communing with Xis at night a mere bath would have been deeply offensive. Spears had been thrown between tribes for much less. Coming from Mei, however, there was an innocent naiveté that made it funny and endearing.

At twilight, the entire village arrived at the shores of the pond and disrobed. Xis had decreed from deep time that Zer people should enter the dream plains with clean bodies and clean souls. So, just after Cuut dipped below the horizon, but before zer light had entirely faded, the entire village would congregate, child, youth, and elder alike, and wash away the day's oils, dirt, and regrets. Soon, the elders said the words to start the ceremony and everyone took the cue to slip into the water.

Normally, trios of lovers would rinse and tease one another in preparation for the evening's more private festivities, but not tonight. The village's bearers were still being watched underground until Tuko was certain there was no danger to them, the poor creatures. Without the rigor of youth or the wisdom of elders to look after them, the bearers would be as defenseless as infants before their naming. They were rare, with only one or two born to a clutch. And like anything rare, they were precious and required protection.

Several of Mei's humans had taken up the cleansing ritual over the months as well, even though it wasn't required or expected of them. Tuko invited their new guests to attend the ceremony as observers, but their leader, Valmassoi, volunteered to participate. Ze hesitated a bit when Tuko explained that the cleansing could only be undertaken while completely naked, but relented under pressure from the rest of zer people and disrobed to a chorus of hooting and hollering from the assembled humans. Ze complained about a chill in the air, which was met with a round of laughter from zer people, however the joke was lost on Kexx. Mei had explained their discomfort with public nudity once, but Kexx just couldn't get a grip on the concept. They were a strange people.

The warmth trapped from the heat of the sun relaxed the day's stress out of Kexx's tired back and limbs. The rote repetition slipped Kexx into the comfort of the familiar. Aside from a few days spent fighting a fever in zer youth, Kexx had never missed the evening's cleansing. It was a part of the rhythm of the day, as dependable as the sunset itself. It was a signal that the day's labors were over and it was time for rest and reflection.

But even as Kexx repeated the chants and scrubbed zer skin clean, ze couldn't help but feel… hollow, as if something had been misplaced. A horn blew, the sign to wash another's back. Feuding parties washed each other's backs to repair the community bonds broken by the day's arguments. Kuul grudgingly accepted a scrub from Chak, who performed the rite in as perfunctory a manner as was required before returning to the other side of the pond. Kexx, without any great foes at the moment, grabbed a partner at random and tried to let the water rinse away zer unease, but it was a stubborn stain.

B
efore the sun
had started its journey the next morning, a runner appeared in Kexx's hut and gently shook zer awake. Cold and stiff, Kexx blinked and groaned at the disturbance.

“Ugh, what?”

“Chief Tuko wants to speak to you.”

“Now? Before breakfast? My head is too cool to think.”

“‘As soon as is convenient,' were zer exact words,” said the young messenger. “There are fires going in the temple. You can warm up there.”

Not in a position to refuse, Kexx thanked the runner and rose from zer cot. Ze hurriedly dressed, then grabbed some yulka bread to snack on. Truthfully, the cold wasn't nearly the disadvantage to Kexx that it was to most. Ze'd spent many nights in the wilds and was used to working cool. Of course that didn't mean ze liked it. There were only a hand of years before zer transition to elder, and while ze still felt the heat of youth in zer bloodways, it took longer to flow than it used to. Still, the increased calm and wisdom that came with the transition would be a welcome addition for zer work as truth-digger, even as it sapped some of zer strength and vigor. And enough exercise could counter much of that loss, or delay it at the very least. Maybe ze'd even think seriously about mating as an elder. So far, there just never seemed to be time.

Kexx stepped into the predawn air and listened. Sounds of argument floated up from the temple further down the bowl. Kexx followed the voices and entered to find the elders in a spirited debate, which was a very strange thing for them to be doing while the rest of the village slept. Tradition maintained that the elders' deliberations could be witnessed by all. The door hadn't been barred, so the meeting was technically still open to anyone, except of course no one else was awake to know it was going on.

But stranger by far than the time was the new dome of mudstone at the center of the temple, which two mudstone formers were even now finishing around the rover.

Kexx turned zer attention back to the squabbling elders and made eye contact with the chief. “You asked to speak with me, Tuko?”

“Truth-digger,” zer title, Kexx noticed. It was to be a formal occasion. Kexx's suspicions floated higher. “Thank you for coming. I hope we didn't wake you.”

Kexx pointed at the new construction. “What's with the hut?”

“Ah, I see you've noticed the inner sanctum we've built to protect the emissary.”

So that was the polite fiction they were going with. The hut was built with haste, since last evening's cleansing at the earliest. The mudstone formers looked exhausted, and their usual precision and craftsmanship were not apparent in the finished product. The job had been rushed, hardly appropriate for an “inner sanctum” of such an important relic.

“It's kind of hard to miss. And I doubt very much it's for the
rover
's protection.”

“Watch your tongue,” Kuul snapped. “Remember your place here.”

“I am remembering my place, warrior,” Kexx snapped right back, flashing a challenging burst of light from zer skin. “I am the truth-digger. What good am I if I can't speak plainly what I see right in front of my face? You don't want the rover listening in on us anymore. I can't say I blame you for it, either. But don't insult my intelligence.”

Kuul's skin flickered in disbelief, stunned into silence. Ze wasn't used to being addressed in such a manner, and it showed. All things considered, it had been a rough couple of days for the warrior's ego.

Tuko was the one to break the silence. “Too right you are. We decided after the cleansing last night that some privacy for our deliberations about the human question would be best.”

“From the humans, I can understand, but this?” Kexx waved a hand around, encompassing everyone standing inside the temple. “When did we start holding meetings while the rest of our people sleep?”

“Have you forgotten we have not one, but now two groups of humans staying within our halo trees?” Kuul recovered enough to ask.

“I haven't. And I call many of those humans friends. Mei's people have been here for six Varrs already peacefully and have taught us much. We should be inviting them to contribute an elder of their own, not running secret meetings to exclude them.”

“And Valmassoi's group? What of them? Are you so eager to throw away our sovereignty to them as well?”

Kexx prepared to throw out a nasty little insult about Kuul's impotence to do anything to defend the village's sovereignty, but held back. It was true enough, but hardly Kuul's fault. The sheer power the humans wielded was beyond anything anyone had dreamed possible just the day before. No one could have been adequately prepared for it.

“Why was I called here?” ze asked instead.

Tuko took a step closer to where Kexx stood. “If you had advice for your elders, what would you say about the other villages? Do we keep the human presence here secret, or do we call a gathering?”

Kexx wasted no time considering the question, the answer was obvious. “We can't hope to keep them secret. It's just not possible.”

“We've kept our group secret enough,” Chak added. “We built their shelter on the far edge opposite to the gate and kept traders outside our walls for that very reason.”