by Simon Archer
“You have many useful skills, Garrett.” She nodded to me as she approached the green-tinted Samlon I’d summoned. “I can see why you are so good at things.” She knelt down by the unmoving Samlon and studied it carefully. She prodded the underside of the fish with her knife until she found the spot. Then she repeated the motion a few times before turning toward me and nodding. “I believe I have figured it out.” She bit her lip. “But do not put yours away. I may need more practice.”
Thera stalked toward the Samlon she’d speared. Then, with a single lightning-quick strike, she drove her obsidian blade deep into the Samlon, killing it.
“Yeah, something tells me you do not need more practice,” I noted wryly as she turned toward me with a determined look on her face.
“Perhaps,” she said as she licked her lips. “But you also have not eaten Samlon.” She winked at me. “I aim to fix that.”
24
I’d just put the last of the several Samlon we’d killed into my inventory and was getting ready to head back with Thera when I saw several Blue Palm Clan tribe members approaching with a pair of clay pots tied to a large stick that they carried across their shoulders.
“What are they doing?” I asked as the first of us reached us. They gave Thera a quick gesture of greeting and began to fill their pots with water.
“They are gathering water from the river both for use in the village and to water the few crops we have.” She shrugged. “How else do you think we got water?”
“Two questions,” I said as I watched the tribe members fill their buckets and head back. They’d done the whole thing in just a few moments.
“Ask your questions, Garrett,” Thera said as we began to make our own way back to the village. “I will do my best to answer.”
“Question one. Is the reason your village isn’t closer to the river because that would attract predators?” I asked as I puzzled over the distance. It was close enough that water could be gathered relatively easy, but not so close that things like irrigation and whatnot would be easy to accomplish.
“Yes.” Thera nodded. “While predators will come to the river to drink, most of them will not stray this far into the forest, especially with the Therizinosaurus nearby as it is her territory.” She looked at me. “What is your next question?”
“Can I see your crops?” I asked, and when she gave me a puzzled look, I continued. “I’m just curious about how you water them.”
“It is a labor-intensive process,” Thera admitted. “And we do not raise many. Each of our plots must be watered by hand, and we still need to provide water for the village. Furthermore, while it is relatively safe to go out now to gather water, it is still dangerous.” She gestured at the forest by way of example. “If we could get more water, we would definitely grow more crops, but as it is, the ones we do have strain our ability to the point where I wonder if it is worth it.” She shot me a mischievous grin. “Though, if you have some way of transporting water in your inventory, I wouldn’t mind the help.”
“I could do that,” I hedged, “but that seems like a lot of work.”
As we entered the village, I helped Thera drop off all the Samlon we’d gotten, and from the look of things, I got the impression that the villagers greatly preferred Samlon to dinosaur.
Once that was done, Thera took me to a clearing where I saw a few of the tribe members moving around. It wasn’t a super large space, maybe the size of a basketball court, and it was separated into several stone-lined beds, each with various plants I didn't recognize growing in them. I made a quick note to grab a few samples for Melanie before turning my attention to Thera.
“I know it is not as large a space as you would think, given a tribe of our size, but…” Thera pointed at the three tribe members busily watering the plants with their buckets. “Each of those plots will take about six buckets to water, and there are twelve of them. Combined with the walk, it is quite time consuming.” She shrugged. “And that ignores all the other tasks that need to be done around the village.”
“Ah,” I mused as I watched them bustle to and fro. “Mind if we go back to the river? I want to try something.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot go with you.” Thera’s cheeks reddened. “I have my own duties to attend to.” She glanced around. “I can summon Nikotan to help you if you would like. He is in charge of the crops, the water, and all of this.” She gestured at the workers. “It is a thankless and tough job, but he does it well. Keep that in mind when you speak with him.”
“Well, I look forward to meeting him then.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Where might I find him?”
“Honestly,” she shot me a wry smile, “go touch a plant, and he’ll show up out of nowhere.” She smirked evilly. “It’s like magic.”
“So, you want my first impression with him to be him yelling at me for touching his crops?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“I suppose that is an excellent point,” she said and then began to whistle as she walked back toward the village.
I watched her go for a few moments before sighing mightily.
“Great,” I mumbled as I approached the closest plot. The plant inside reminded me of a greenish-blue sunflower with lilac-colored petals. Only at its base, it had what looked like potatoes. As I stared at it for a moment, I wondered what part of it was edible. Was it the potato-like tubers? The seeds in the flower? The flower itself? The stem and leaves? All of the above?
“Don’t touch it,” a gruff voice said from behind me, and as I turned around, I found myself looking at a heavyset man with a deep white beard made of feathers and two beady eyes practically glaring a hole in me.
“Hi, I’m Garrett,” I said as the man pulled off a do-rag made of what looked like animal hide, rubbed his bald head with one hand, and then mopped his brow with the rag.
“The pleasure is all mine,” he replied without giving his name. “What exactly are you doing here?” He peered at me. “And yes, I know you’re the human from the stars or whatever.”
“Right, okay.” I took a deep breath. “Thera said that there was a great cropmaster here, and I was hoping to meet him.”
“Ah.” He gave me a quick once over. “Did she say what the name of this great cropmaster was?”
“Nikotan.” The moment the name left my lips, the man frowned mightily.
“Figures,” he muttered with a sigh. “Always want to see Nikotan. No one ever wants to see Charlie.” Then he stomped off. He made it about six steps before glancing at me over his shoulders. “Come on then. I’ll take you to Nikotan.”
“Uh… right,” I said as I followed after him, albeit at a safe distance. From the way he was acting, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t catch a punch to the jaw if I crowded his space. “So, uh, what do you do here, Charlie?”
“Everything.” He flung his hands up. “I do everything.” He gestured out at the plots. “All the work done here is done by my hands.” He glanced at me and snorted. “Nikotan doesn’t do anything.”
“He doesn’t?” I asked as he turned sharply to the left, and I realized that a man was lying near the trees, snoring like crazy. He was rather small and thin, and unlike the others who mostly wore skins, he was covered from head to toe in leaves so he looked like a human lettuce wrap. Well, all except his head, because that was crowned with what looked like a bird's nest covered in a smattering of flowers of various colors.
“No.” Charlie kicked the sleeping man. “Get up.”
“I am up, dude! Why are you being so harsh?” came the high-pitched squeal from the now scrambling, leaf-wearing figure. “I was just resting my eyes, dude.” He yawned widely before turning toward me. Then he smacked his lips a few times. “How’s it going, dude?”
“Well,” I hedged, “are you Nikotan?”
“He is,” Charlie answered before stomping off. “I’ll just be over there.” He shot a thumb at the plots. “You know, working.”
“Don’t mind him, dude.” Nikotan got slowly to his feet. “He’s one of those w
orrier types. You know, once when I was little, we were off on a hike to find a rare Zamofiul plant, and wouldn’t you know it, he started complaining about the raptors chasing us, and how the sun was setting, and how we were going to die without food, water, or shelter, assuming, of course, the raptors didn’t eat us first.” He leaned in. “Thing is, dude, we didn’t get eaten.”
“I can see that.” I laughed. “What did happen?”
“The forest protected us, my dude.” He threw an arm around my shoulder. “She always does and always will, unless she doesn’t.” He nodded solemnly. “Sometimes, the forest is a harsh mistress, dude.”
“Duuude,” I replied.
“Dude.” Nikotan nodded. “So, what can I do you for?” He yawned.
“I wanted you to show me what you had by way of agriculture.” I gestured toward the plants. “Thera said you were the best person to ask about any and all things plant.”
“That is true,” he mused. “I do have a fondness for herbs.” He smiled at me. “Say, do you wanna see some of my favorite plants?”
“Sure.” I nodded. “Why don’t we start with those?”
“Sounds good, dude.” He began walking toward a plot on the far left with what looked like bright pink corn stalks growing in it.
“Melody? You there?” I asked over our commlink while I followed Nikotan.
There was a loud crash followed by an “I’m here! I’m here!” Then a deep breath. “What’s up, Garrett?”
“I’m with the resident crop master for the Blue Palm Clan, and he’s going to go through the crops they raise with us,” I told her. “Can you keep an eye out while we do that? Also, I’ll be sending some samples along your way.”
“Oh! That sounds great!” She yawned. “I’m very excited. Don’t let the yawn fool you.”
“I won’t,” I replied with a laugh. “You definitely sound excited to me.”
I turned my attention to Nikotan, who was giving me a curious, head-cocked to the side look that reminded me of my old puppy, and I realized that, for all practical purposes, he’d thought I’d been talking to myself. So, I did what any practical person would do. I tapped the side of my temple.
“I have a scientist listening in from across space and time, and I want her to hear what you have to tell us.” I smiled like that was a reasonable explanation. “She’s a catgirl.”
“Sounds good, dude,” he said before turning toward bright pink corn stalks. “This is my favorite.” Then he pointed across the field toward what looked like petunias only covered in red and pink polka dots. “Also, that one.” He bit his lip as he looked around. “Actually, I like all of them a lot, dude.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Wow, that was easier than I thought.” He smiled. “Anything else I can help you with?”
“Um…” I said as I suppressed memories of Disney’s Jungle Cruise from back home. “How about you give me more detail? Like, what is the name of this pink one? What’s it do? How do you make it grow? All that stuff.”
“You know, you can just send me samples, and I can figure all that out,” Melody said in my ear, which was a fair point. But who knew how long it would take for her to figure that out when this guy could theoretically tell us? Besides, learning was fundamental and all that.
“Oh, I can do that, dude.” Nikotan took a huge breath before reaching out and plucking one of the thinnest stalks. Only the way he did it was deft and managed, and somehow, it really didn’t seem to damage the plant. “So, this is Manika.” He moved the stalk toward his nose in a wafting motion. “If you do this, you can smell it.” He made the same motion toward me, and a scent like lilacs and chili hit my nose. “We put this in our cooking as a medicinal.” He paused as if thinking. “It’s primarily useful when people have bleeding gums. If you eat some of this every day, then that doesn’t happen.”
“I wonder if it fixes some kind of deficiency,” Melanie said in my ear. “Like with scurvy and vitamin C.”
“Does it take a lot of work to grow?” I asked as I nodded toward the soil around the stalks. Instead of being relatively dry, it was almost swampy in a way that reminded me of rice paddies. “I mean, that’s a lot of water.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a lot of work, dude,” Nikotan thought aloud. “It does take a lot of water, though, so we can’t grow a lot of them.” He gestured at the plots nearest to us. “All the plants are arranged in order of water usage, so the ones on the other side require the least amount of water.” He pointed at the Manika. “While these require the most.”
He frowned. “That’s also one of the problems. I have several other plants I’d love to grow, as well as increasing production of several of the more useful medicinals, but we can’t transport the water.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” I said as I looked around. “That brings me to another question, actually.” I nodded to the Manika. “This one and several others don’t seem like they are from around here.”
“Good eye, dude.” Nikotan nodded. “Some of these come from very far away.” He gestured at the Manika. “This, for instance, comes from the swamps many miles to the south. It took a lot of work to get a system that would let them grow out here. The soil was all wrong, and water was a problem.” He gave me a smile. “But that’s the fun of it. Getting a new plant and figuring out how to make it grow.”
“Tell me,” I said as I took in his excitement. “What else would you grow if water wasn’t an option?”
“I can’t even imagine that, dude.” He laughed. “But I suppose, if I had unlimited water, I’d grow lots of things from both the Southern Swamps and the Eastern Rainforest.” He rubbed his chin. “And if I had better soil, we might be able to go Dandipoppies.” He got a far off look in his eyes. “Those things are amazing. Just one bite will cure the worst hangovers.”
“Hmm…” I said as I thought it over.
“Garrett, what are you thinking?” Melanie asked over the link.
“A few things,” I said as I glanced back toward the river. I had something I wanted to try. “First, can you actually come here with a soil testing kit and whatnot and work with Nikotan for a bit? I know that it will pale in comparison to the Halls of Research, but it will probably save a lot of time if you just come here for a few hours.”
“Fieldwork?” Melanie gave an excited purred. “I love fieldwork. I just never get to do it. I’ll get my things and be there in a jiffy.”
“Great,” I replied before turning my attention back to Nikotan. “My scientist is going to come join us for this part so she can run some tests.”
“Okay, dude.” Nikotan shrugged. “I guess I’ll hold off on explaining things until she gets here then. Don’t wanna have to say everything twice.”
“Makes sense,” I said as I looked around. “Say, do you have anything that works like glue? Preferably that’s waterproof.” I gestured toward the canteen that he had on a loop. “Like, how does Kanil make those?”
“Oh, Bunga Tree sap is an adhesive.” He looked around for a moment before walking abruptly left until he came up to a trio of spindly looking trees with bright pink leaves on top. “These are more common to the north, so I replanted them here.” He scratched at the bark, which caused it to ooze purple sap. “That stuff is sticky to the touch, but only for a few minutes. Once it hardens, it becomes pretty sturdy.”
“Perfect,” I said as I got a ping from Melanie, letting me know she was here. “And it’s also time to pick up Melanie.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure if that would work. This was a forced world after all, but whoever set this trap apparently hadn’t closed the doors yet. I’d take advantage of that for as long as I could. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“And I’ll be right here.” Nikotan shrugged. “Later, dude.”
25
Needless to say, I spent the next couple hours listening to Melanie grill Nikotan about the various plants in a way I’d have never been able to do, so it made me glad I’d asked her to come, and not just because I gained about ten ranks in Herbal
ism during the whole thing.
Now, though, they were working on various ways to better fertilize the soil and such, which was perfect because it gave me time to try out my own plan.
I quickly made my way back down to the river and headed toward the bamboo-like plant Thera had used to make Samlon spears earlier. It was tall like bamboo with dark rings every foot or two along the base. Nikotan had called it Natzo.
I pulled out the hatchet I’d purchased from the Bazaar, picked a medium-sized Natzo that was about ten or so feet tall, and aimed for one of the dark rings just above the ground because Nikotan had told me that hitting the dark rings on a Natzo left an even cut that wouldn’t splinter.
My swing slashed through the Natzo with surprising ease, and as the plant toppled over, I moved to examine the edge. Like Nikotan had told me there would be, the entire length of the plant was hollow, and what’s more, unlike the smaller ones Thera and I had used earlier, this opening was definitely bigger. While Nikotan had also mentioned that the larger the plant, the greater the inside hollow would be, I supposed seeing was believing.
What’s more, this was perfect for my needs.
I took a few moments to clear off all the leaves and branches so that I had a long tube before I dragged it over to the river. It was still pretty rough, and while I had trained in rough rivers and whatnot, I also had minions who wouldn’t mind getting blasted by freezing river water. Also, they couldn’t drown.
I summoned a few Hobgoblins and directed them to place the edge of my Natzo into the river, then wedged down one side so that the water flowed into it. Thankfully, it was pretty easy to get them to do what I wanted because I just sort of sent them a mental picture of what I envisioned over our Aura link.
While they worked on that, I cut down a few more Natzo. By the time I was finishing my fourth Natzo, I had received a ping over the link from one of the Hobgoblins. I turned around to see the Natzo positioned where the water rushed into it and secured with several large rocks so that it wouldn’t move. Water then seemed to flow through the Natzo tube and onto the bank of the river which was exactly what I wanted.
