Dale K. Robinson
She ran through the jungle with no regard for what might lay ahead because only death lay behind.
She regretted killing Sh’nark; he alone among the Saurians had been kind to the human prisoners. Even so, she was the last of the prisoners. Sh’nark’s kindness could not save the others from the gruesome torture chambers and she had no illusions about what might await her if she did not escape.
She finished her meal and waited for Sh’nark to come for the feeding tray. She felt a bit sorry for him, but only for an instant before she bashed his skull in with the tray. She used his key to escape the cell, narrowly avoiding a Saurian security patrol outside the building. She had no trouble escaping the Saurian outpost, which was built to repel attackers from without rather than keep escapees in. Her main worry was that Sh’nark’s body would be found before she made it into the jungle surrounding the outpost.
She eluded the sentries and foiled the perimeter sensors to slip into the dense growth surrounding the Saurian outpost and began to run to put as much distance between herself and the Saurians.
The taste of freedom was sweet. For nearly two months, she had been a prisoner of the Saurians and a victim of their torture as they tried to get her to reveal Federation secrets. She was the last survivor of the shuttle crew that the Saurians had captured in a raid deep inside Federation space.
Lieutenant Commander Alessa Strong ran and ran, pausing only for a moment’s rest before she ran some more. She was naked; her feet were cut, her arms and legs scratched and bleeding. She had no idea what dangers might inhabit the jungle; she didn’t even know what planet she was on. Still, freedom and possible death was preferable to captivity and certain death.
She paused to get her breath, heart pounding in her chest. Now she heard the noise of a Saurian flyer approaching. Sh’nark’s body had been discovered and they were looking for her. She crouched low in the dense growth. She couldn’t see the flyer for the thick jungle canopy, but heard it pass overhead. It turned and came back, passing over her again. It hovered momentarily and then moved away.
She heard the flyer’s landing gear deploy and the pitch of the engines change as it prepared to land. It moved away from her position, presumably to look for a nearby clearing. The engine pitch changed again as the flyer began to descend.
She looked around for a weapon – a club, a rock, anything. She would not be taken back without a fight.
Now she heard the Saurian troopers moving through the jungle toward her position. With a sturdy fallen tree branch in her hands, she prepared to fight like a tigress defending her cub.
Three Saurian troopers stepped out of the brush and leveled their weapons at her. She raised the club. One of the Saurians’ face split in a grotesque grin as he hissed in laughter.
Suddenly, a flurry of shapes dropped from the jungle canopy above on to the Saurians. The surprised Saurians went down under the onslaught. And in a moment it was over.
The Saurian troopers lay still and their attackers stepped back. The human woman prepared to defend herself once more, this time from an unknown alien threat.
The creatures were bipedal humanoids, somewhat ape-like, somewhat wraith-like. They turned to face her and she tensed for the fight. But instead of attacking her, the creatures extended a hand toward her. Their faces twisted into what she could only interpret as a smile.
They turned to leave, motioning for her to follow. Warily, she started to follow, reaching for a weapon from one of the fallen Saurians. She jumped back as one of the aliens charged at her. It was clear that she was not to touch the Saurian weapons, but she was allowed to take the Saurians’ ration packs.
She followed the creatures, wondering what she was walking into. She felt they were taking her farther from the flyer and away from the Saurian outpost, but she knew it was only a matter of time before another patrol came looking for the first.
As she followed, she studied the creatures. They walked nearly erect and their bodies were thin with long limbs. They were covered in a silvery-white fur that helped give them the wraith-like appearance. She wondered if they were arboreal creatures, but the question was soon answered. As the group arrived at the base of a large tree, one by one the creatures swung into the lower branches of the tree. They indicated that the human woman should follow, but it quickly became apparent that she lacked their skill.
One of the creatures dropped down, snatched her up and clambered up the tree with her under one arm. She struggled at first, but quickly subsided when she realized that the creature had quickly carried her several hundred feet above the ground. The group then moved through the upper terraces of the jungle, easily moving from tree to tree. They were joined by other creatures that traveled with them until there were several dozen of the wraith-like ape men.
The group soon arrived at what could only be described as a village built in the treetops. There was a wide main street of closely woven branches with huts of various sizes lining each side of the street.
She was placed on her feet and her host indicated she should follow. He led her to a small hut which was furnished with soft animal pelts. He spoke to another creature that ran off, but quickly returned with a gourd filled with water and a small basket of fruit. With a crude sign language, her host indicated she should drink, eat and rest.
Gratefully, the young woman did just that. She sank into the soft furs and took a long drink of cold water from the gourd before snatching up a golden fruit. The juices ran down her chin and breasts and stung in the cuts and scratches.
One of the wraiths, the one who brought the water and fruits, produced a large, sponge-like leaf and rubbed it on the woman’s raw scratches. The relief was nearly instantaneous.
“Thank you,” she told the creature, who chattered back at her in a sing-song voice. “I don’t understand you,” she said, shaking her head.
Over the next few days, she learned that her friend was called Kalak and her people were known as the Garabi. Kalak made it her (Kalak was a female) duty to teach the human woman the Garabi language and to integrate her into the tribe.
When Alessa was brought up short by a pain in her abdomen, Kalak smiled knowingly and patted first her own belly and then Alessa’s. “Ulab.” Garabi for “baby.” And Kalak, like Alessa, was expecting.
Alessa learned that the Saurians had killed many Garabi when they first arrived to establish their base. The Garabi had been quick learners and had adopted new tactics against the Saurians (“Al’mig” in the Garabi tongue) that made it dangerous for the aliens to venture from their outpost except in large forces.
The Garabi were arboreal creatures, living in elaborate villages hidden high in the giant trees, gentle and friendly unless attacked. When threatened, they became ferocious, courageous fighters defending themselves and their families.
Alessa became a member of their family and they lived in peace. The Saurians seldom ventured beyond their facility and seldom harassed the Garabi. When they did, the Garabi responded forcefully and melted back into the jungle.
By the time Alessa gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a few months later, she had resigned herself to living out her life among the Garabi, knowing it was unlikely other humans would ever find her on this world inside the Saurian Empire. By the time baby J’ne was a year old, Alessa had become so much a part of the Garabi that she was a member of the Pan’Ell, the matriarch council. By the time J’ne was two, Alessa was the council Ell’ran, the council leader.
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He sat quietly in the corner, watching the old man in the worn and faded uniform jacket shuffle into the bar. The barkeeper looked up from his newspaper.
“Got money today, Eddie? I ain’t havin’ ye hustlin’ payin’ customers anymore. No one wants t’ hear your war stories anyhow.” The barkeep was a big man, grizzled and gruff. The man in the corner decided the barkeeper probably had a few war stories of his own. Most Terrans of his, their, generation did.
“What’s today, Angus?” the old man asked, digging in a pocket of the jacket.
“Only the 29th, Eddie.” The man behind the bar shook his head, knowing what the next question would be.
“I get my military retirement check on the first. Can’t ya’ spot me a drink or two until then, Angus?” the man asked.
“Ya’ already owe me more’n a hunnert, Eddie. No more credit.”
The old man mumbled something and turned toward the door. As he turned, the man in the corner noticed the shoulder patch on the old man’s jacket. “CASSIOPIA.”
“I’ll buy you a drink, Eddie,” the man said. Eddie stopped and looked at the man in the corner, noticing him for the first time.
He started to shuffle toward the corner table, paused to call to the barkeeper, “Denebian Ale, Angus.” The man in corner said “Make it two, Angus.” Angus shook his head, but proceeded to pour the drinks. Denebian Ale was the most expensive, most potent drink Angus carried.
Eddie settled into a chair opposite his benefactor, studying him for a moment, noting the stars on the uniform shoulders. “Much obliged, Adm’ral.”
Admiral Clay Porter nodded. “You were on the Cassiopia, Eddie?” The officer noted the blaster scars on Eddie’s face. Eddie absently ran a dirty, weathered finger over his face, tracing the scars.
“Battle of A’cirfa.” He picked up the drink Angus brought and took a long drink while the admiral paid the barkeep.
“I was there, too.” The admiral followed Eddie’s lead, also taking a long swallow of the strong drink. “On Cassie’s bridge.”
Eddie sat the glass down hard and nodded. “You were the first officer. I was in the landing assault force.” The Federation starship Cassiopia was destroyed at the Battle of A’cirfa; only a handful of the crew had survived. Saurian ground defenses had decimated the assault forces on the ground while a Saurian destroyer had deliberately rammed the starship in orbit. It was one of the final battles of the war and despite the ferocious defense mounted by the Saurians, their facility on A’cirfa was destroyed. The Terrans had been victorious, but at great cost.
“Need another drink?” asked the admiral. “Yeah,” said the old veteran in the faded uniform jacket.
The two men talked for hours of battles and lost comrades before the conversation returned to the Battle of A’cirfa.
“The Saurians had my squad pinned down and were about to overrun our position. They had already worked us over pretty good, but most of us could still hold a weapon. And we had decided we would not be taken,” Eddie said. He wasn’t drinking now.
“They were making their final assault on our position. We were down to about a half dozen effectives now. The Saurians came at us; our weapons weren’t much good against their body armor. The blasts were just absorbed and they didn’t slow down.
“We could beat them in hand to hand. We were much more agile and our blades would penetrate their armor when our blasters couldn’t. But there were too many of them. They charged into us and I thought it was over. One went down as I slipped my combat knife through his armor, only to be replaced by two more.
“Suddenly, Saurians started dropping around me. There were creatures, ghostly, ape-like creatures, dropping from the trees on the Saurians. They had knives and spears and clubs and they were deadly. The Saurians were suddenly in disarray and we pressed the advantage. And then it was over and time to give aid and count casualties.
“We lost more than a dozen members of our squad. There were nearly a hunnert dead Saurians and a couple of the ghost-creatures. And the human woman who had led them.” Eddie drained his glass.
“A human woman?” asked the admiral, raising his glass.
“I recognized her,” Eddie said. “She had been the Cassie’s weapons officer before her shuttle disappeared a few years before.”
The admiral dropped his glass. “Alessa Strong?”
Eddie nodded. “The creatures collected their dead, including her, and disappeared as quick as they had appeared.
“When we finally made it into the Saurian base, we found every one of them dead that hadn’t been killed by the bombardment. The creatures had been there before us,” Eddie said.
“None of that was in the official reports, Eddie.”
“Who would have believed it, Admiral? I was there, and I’m not sure I believe it.” Eddie took a long drink, sat the empty glass down hard, and pushed it away.
The admiral took a long, hard swallow of his own drink. “Alessa Strong was my wife.”
The admiral paid off Eddie’s tab and hailed a cab. He took the old soldier to a nearby rooming house and ordered him into a sonic shower. While the old man was in the shower, Porter paid the rooming house proprietor to send Eddie’s clothes out for cleaning. He sat down at the comm and made a number of calls. By the time he had finished, Eddie’s clothes were back, clean, pressed and mended and Eddie himself was clean.
“Get some sleep, Eddie. We’ve got an early day tomorrow. Our shuttle leaves at 0530.”
“Shuttle? Shuttle where?” asked the old soldier.
“A’cirfa.”
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The ruins were nearly hidden by the jungle. J’ne crouched in a nearby tree, surveying the place her people called “Al’mig’n’go.” Forbidden place of the Al’mig.
She grabbed a vine in preparation to swing to the ground. She intended to explore Al’mig’n’go. Kalaka stayed her with a hand on her shoulder. “I have to know, my friend. I have to know why I am so different from the other Garabi. And I think I will find my answers there.”
“Your mother died fighting the Al’mig here. It is dangerous, “ Kalaka warned her.
“Kalaka, my sister, your mother raised me as if I were her own ulab. But one thing I learned from Kalak, that we both learned, was to think for ourselves.
“The Al’mig have been gone for many, many seasons. And I will know the secrets this place holds for me.” She shrugged Kalaka’s hand off her shoulder.
Kalaka put her hand back on J’ne’s shoulder and squeezed. “I had to try, my sister.”
J’ne turned and hugged the Garabi female. Then she grasped the vine and swung to the ground. A moment later, Kalaka landed beside her. “My sister will not face this danger alone,” the Garabi said.
Warily, they entered the ruins. Traveling on the surface was something the Garabi rarely did. Predators abounded in the jungle; J’ne and Kalaka had no doubt they would prowl these ruins as well. A living Al’mig had not been seen since the great battle, but no Garabi had entered these ruins since that day.
J’ne had no idea what she might find in Al’mig’n’go. Would she find the knowledge she sought or would she find more mysteries?