Caveman Alien’s Enemy

by Skye, Calista

  “As much in common as a chihuahua has with the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Eleanor mutters. “They are fucking shifters. Totally alien. We should get the hell away from this planet while we still can.”

  “If we have a common root, a common kind of ancestry, then maybe they are not as alien as they seem,” Tamara defends her position. “They might have emotions. Anger. Sadness. Joy. Dread. Love.”

  “A dragon that loves?” Eleanor scoffs. “And maybe he’ll build you a castle and you’ll live there happily ever after. This is ludicrous. Let’s just go!”

  A flash of lightning bathes the village in a blue light. The thunderclap follows a split second later and drowns out my gasp.

  There was somebody standing there. At the edge of the forest, just inside the village. A human figure that reflected the lightning like a mirror.

  Except for the face. The only thing reflecting anything there was the big, bright grin. And I can’t help thinking that it was meant for me.

  2

  - Mia -

  I don’t sleep that night. Not only has the thunderstorm set up shop right on top of us, showing no intention of leaving, that shiny man I saw is burned into my retinas and just won’t get out of my thoughts.

  I raised the alarm right away, and our cavemen ran out into the forest to the point where I saw that thing, swords drawn and moving like soldiers. But they came back reporting that they had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Except the unusual amounts of rain.

  But it wasn’t a hallucination caused by a lack of sleep. It was real. Someone was standing there.

  I get up before dawn, and a couple of the girls are already up and cooking breakfast.

  I sit down by the fire, under the rocky outcropping that keeps the worst of the rain off our heads.

  “Never seen it rain like this,” Aurora says, having to raise her voice because of the almost constant thunder. “It usually takes a break or lets off for a while.”

  “It’s weird,” I agree. “There’s a river through the village now.”

  The rain water has carved a new stream right through the clearing, and it now flows full of dirty, muddy water.

  “It’ll dry up as soon as the rain stops,” Sophia predicts, handing me a mug of not-coffee. “And if it doesn’t – well, we won’t be here that much longer, anyway.”

  I take a sip of the brew. It’s nothing like coffee or tea, but at least it’s piping hot. “So we’re definitely going to live in Bune? Even if the escape ship won’t work?”

  “We’d have to vote over it,” Aurora says. “But the dragons arriving in their hundreds kind of changes things. We can survive inside Bune. There’s food. There’s shelter. We might be able to keep the dragons from entering. It’ll be our fortress, much easier to defend than this village. So yeah, the moment Delyah has delivered her baby and feels ready for the trek, we’re going.”

  I look around the village, which now looks more like a medieval hamlet than a Stone Age settlement. I note with some pride that the couple of houses that Ashlynn, Phoebe, and I have built make everything look more modern. In a 14th century kind of way. At least they’re made of bricks, and they have straight lines here and there. “Kind of a pity. Best village on Xren.”

  “Yeah,” Sophia agrees. “We started with an abandoned cave and created this. I think we made some seriously sweet lemonade from the lemons we were handed. By Xren standards, this is a freaking metropolis.”

  “You’re leaving today, Mia?” Aurora asks. “It might be the last time you see this place.”

  I drink more not-coffee. “As soon as my escort is ready.”

  “Sure you won’t need any help?”

  I bite my lower lip and think about it. “Checking that ship would be quicker if there were more people than just me. But I think there’s something to be said for not splitting up the tribe too much. And I actually don’t know what I’ll see there. That alien ship might be impossible to make more sense of than what Delyah and Ashlynn have already done. How about this: I go there today. My escort of twenty cavemen kick out any dragons there are and secure the place. Then I look at the escape ship for a day or two. If I think it would be quicker if I had some extra eyes and hands, I’ll send some of the guys here to the village and get more girls to join me. Does that make sense?”

  “It’s perfectly rational,” Aurora states and heaps some turkeypig stew onto a green leaf. “And that doesn’t surprise anyone, coming from you. Have you thought of how you’ll do it? The checking?”

  I stifle a yawn. “In engineering, we sometimes do things by the triage method. Like, in the emergency room, they sort patients so the most serious injuries get treated first. I will do something similar. I’ll check the escape ship for obvious faults that will definitely kill us. Like, holes in the walls or huge cracks and so on. If there are no faults like that, then the ship is Level One cleared. Meaning that if we’re absolutely desperate, and staying on Xren any longer definitely means certain death, the risk/reward analysis favors actually trying to use the ship. Even if it’s only Level One cleared. That might take a couple of weeks, though. Then I’ll go deeper and deeper into it until I get to Level Three cleared, which means that I have checked everything I can make any sense of, and I can’t see anything that might cause a critical problem. At that point, we can consider using that ship even if staying on Xren is a completely viable option that probably won’t kill us. Sure, it will mostly be about the airframe, itself, the structural components. But those are usually the most critical parts. The avionics I will have no way to check. If there are any. If the airframe is okay, there’s a good chance the propulsion stuff is fine, too. Just based on straight logics: if one critical system is fine after all these years, probably the others are, too. Fair?”

  Sophia reaches over and squeezes my wrist, smiling warmly. “I could listen to you all day long, Mia. So freaking calming to hear a pro talk about these things. Makes me feel we have a chance.”

  “Totally,” Aurora says, chewing on her stew. “Nothing calms the mind like hearing about structural components and clearance levels and avionics. Come on, Mia, say more things like that.”

  I chuckle, flattered and energized by their trust. “There’s not much more yet. Maybe when we’re ready to take off I’ll harangue you with the alien tech I’ve seen.”

  Sophia hands me a bowl of stew. “So, the guys didn’t find any trace of that stranger you saw.”

  I take my wooden spoon out of my pocket. The iron spoons that the cavemen made for us have all been buried so they won’t provide the dragons with even the most pitiful of hoards. “A trick of the light. I’m so highly strung I’m seeing dragons everywhere.”

  “Maybe,” Sophia says. “Nobody else saw anything. But the jungle feels different now, Jax’zan says. There are strange noises everywhere, even apart from the thunder. There are shadows that move, things that you only see from the corner of your eye and then vanish. Even big cavemen who have lived in the jungle all their lives are getting jumpy out there. I haven’t seen him this worried since the day I gave birth the first time.”

  “Everything feels weirder than usual,” Aurora agrees. “You couldn’t pay me enough to go into the jungle alone now. Still, how much of that is real and how much is in our minds? We’re so afraid of the dragons now that they have power over us, even when they’re not here. Or not close, anyway. Let’s not ascribe supernatural powers to them. They don’t have those. They are aliens. That’s all. Weird and evil aliens, maybe. But just aliens. Flesh and blood. Except maybe without the blood. And the flesh. Shit, I should just stop talking. Mia, I have something for you.” She hands me a carefully made leather backpack that I recognize as her own. “This has everything in it that you need. Never take it off until you are safe inside Bune with no enemy within ten miles. And take this.”

  I reach out and take the crossbow she’s holding out. “I can’t accept all this, Aurora. These are your own things.”

  “Oh, that’s not my usual bow. Mine has a mu
ch harder spring that I don’t think you can pull. But this one is plenty powerful. It has a steel string, too. Spares in the pack. Don’t actually string it on before you’re going to use it. I’m so freaking tired of girls going off into the woods and being diverted or abducted. Now you’re as well-armed as anyone on the planet. Shoot first and ask questions later. But only if you have time and you’re really interested in the answer to those questions. All right?”

  I hold the crossbow clumsily. I know how to use it – Aurora has made damn sure every girl in the village is a pretty good markswoman with one of these. But I was never into other weapons than fighter jets. “Then I hope I meet nobody who might know what happened on the Kardashians last season.”

  “Well, obviously,” Sophia says. “But don’t bring us any spoilers.”

  “Attach the string,” Aurora says and points to the crossbow. “Just so we know you can do it. Now stand up, pull it back. Good, it’s not too powerful for you to load. Get a bolt from the backpack quiver – yep. Don’t pull the trigger now, you’ll shoot that bolt far into the ground. What is it, Sophia?”

  Sophia looks past me. “Mia, I think your guys are ready.”

  On the other side of the barrier that separates the girl part of the village from the caveman barracks, a whole bunch of giant cavemen are lined up. Even from fifty yards away, it’s an impressive sight. They’re huge and have gigantic swords. Their torsos have stripes in all kinds of colors, so it’s a mix of men from quite a few different tribes.

  One man climbs the barrier and approaches. “I seek tribeswoman Mia.”

  I put the backpack on. “That is me, warrior. Girls, I think this is goodbye for now. See you soon.”

  The girls don’t get up to hug me, and that’s fine. This way it feels like I’ll only be gone for a couple hours.

  “Bye, Mia,” Aurora says and gives me a little wave. “We all appreciate you doing this.”

  “We really do,” Sophia says, clearly struggling not to cry. I guess the pregnancy makes her emotional. “You’re a champ.”

  The warrior has bright pink stripes and looks down at me with pitch black eyes that somehow have a cold look in them. “You are ready for the journey?”

  I heft the crossbow in my hand. “I am, warrior. Your name?”

  “Brank’ox from the Kulatar tribe,” he says loudly and with bass tones so deep my chest rattles. “I will command the squad. We will leave the village now. Follow.” He stares me down as if he thinks I might protest. Then he turns around and marches back towards the other guys.

  I look at the girls and make a face. “You think maybe that could be their leader? Okay, chicas. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Unless it’s something stupid. Then definitely do it.”

  I hurry after the warrior into the rain, past the barrier and towards the edge of the jungle, where the others are waiting.

  Brank’ox turns towards me. “Mia, we will give you the greatest protection. Please do as you’re told. We will spread out and walk through the jungle as a group, but in loose formation. I will always be in front of you. That is all you need to think about. Keep me in front of you at all times. There’s a good chance you will not see the others again until we arrive. Just keep up with me. Do not speak or make other noises. Are we in agreement?”

  Oooh-kay. “Um… yes.”

  “The walk will take all day. We expect to reach Bune right before nightfall, but it might be dark well before then.” He looks up at the sky, which seems to be getting even darker as the morning really should be getting brighter. “Let us begin.”

  The first men of my group of escorts enter the woods.

  I hear quick footsteps from behind, splashing through the mud.

  “I’ll go with you,” a voice says.

  I turn around. “Eleanor? Have you checked with Delyah?”

  She stands there, looking forlorn in her dinosaur skin dress. But there’s fire in her eyes. “No. Honestly, she can’t tell me what to do. I want to go to Bune. I want to be as close to our only fucking escape as possible.”

  “Brank’ox,” I call.

  The squad leader turns around, sending Eleanor a look that should render her pretty meek. “Yes?”

  “Eleanor wants to come, too.”

  “Chief Brax’tan said only one woman.”

  “And now there are two,” Eleanor says. “It’s very simple. I’m going to Bune. If you won’t protect me, I’ll go alone.”

  She’s deadly serious.

  I shrug. “You better tell the girls you’re coming with me.”

  “I told Phoebe and Dolly. They know. And I asked them not to tell on me for ten minutes after I’m gone.”

  I look her up and down. “You don’t have a crossbow?”

  She takes in the group of cavemen waiting impatiently. “Those things are more dangerous to the shooter than the target. I have a knife. That’ll do. Don’t we have a freaking army to protect us?”

  I gaze back towards the cave. Aurora and Sophia are staring over at us, so they can see what’s happening and nobody will worry about Eleanor suddenly being gone.

  And she’s right – I am not the boss of her, and neither is Delyah. “Then I guess you’re coming along.”

  She walks right past Brank’ox and into the jungle with long strides. “I am. Let’s go.”

  I duck under a branch and into the alien woods.

  The other men are nowhere to be seen. All I see is Brank’ox’s broad, muscular back. And in fairness, there are worse things to look at on Xren.

  He walks pretty fast, though. And I would really hate to fall behind. He seems like a pretty no-nonsense kind of guy, and he does kind of make me feel like a schoolgirl in front of a stern principal.

  The people from our village have walked this way so many times that there’s a clear path to follow, meandering among the trees, but pointing just about straight for the swampy area where Delyah landed the spaceship Bune some months ago.

  “Does he really have to walk so fast?” Eleanor hisses from beside me.

  Immediately, Brank’ox stops and looks back at us. I had no idea pitch-black eyes could pierce like searchlights, but these ones definitely can.

  “I think he wants us to shut up,” I whisper.

  “Then he really should slow down,” Eleanor says in cavemanese, raising her voice.

  Brank’ox sends her another withering stare, then turns his back and walks on. A little slower, it seems to me.

  Brank’ox is obviously choosing the easiest path, something that most of us would not. The easiest path is also the most dangerous one – if it’s easy for us, it’s easy for the dinos as well. But there haven’t been that many dinosaurs this close to the village for a long time, and I suppose the twenty cavemen walking invisibly somewhere around us is pretty good security.

  And yet I’m creeped out. The jungle was always scary, with all its unknown sounds and smells. Any little rustle in the bushes could be a not-raptor getting ready to pounce and feed you to its hatchlings, and any new smell could be a horrible monster like a flesh-eating butterfly or a huge porcupine that looks like a cow. And of course, there is always the danger of the not-dactyls, the flying horrors with their terrible screeches.

  But now the jungle is quiet. And that is the most scary thing of all.

  The only thing I can hear is my own footsteps, sometimes Eleanor’s footsteps as she steps into a puddle, and the steady drips from above – huge, sticky drops from the canopy of branches high above us. They soak us just as much as the steady rain would have, if it ever reached the ground. But at least the thunder has quieted down a little.

  “Why is it so dark?” Eleanor whispers from behind me. “It’s like nine in the morning. It should be bright as day.”

  “Dark clouds,” I respond as softly as I can so I don’t provoke Brank’ox to scowl at me again. “Really thick ones.”

  “Yeah. But why? I’ve never seen thunderclouds as black as these ones. On Earth or here.

  And the air feels thi
ck. Stagnant.”

  She’s right. The air is weird today. It doesn’t really smell that bad, just of dirt and rain. But it feels heavy, as if it resists our movements. It reminds me of the oppressive feeling of humid air just before a thunderstorm is going to break out, making you sweat. Except the storm has already passed.

  The air grows misty, and that only makes the darkness deeper.

  The mud cakes on my sandal-clad feet, and both Eleanor and I have a little bit of trouble staying upright on the slippery dirt. But still we’re moving fast through the jungle, with Brank’ox’s luminous stripes like a guiding light ahead of us. I never thought pink could look manly, but it definitely does when it’s decorating a torso as muscular as his—

  He suddenly stops and raises his hand, palm out.

  I freeze mid-step, and Eleanor walks right into me.

  “What?” she stage whispers, peering past me.

  I don’t reply. Brank’ox is clearly listening for something.

  I hear it, too. There’s a distant noise, but I can’t place the direction it comes from. It comes from all directions at once, but it also comes from nowhere. It’s a strange sound, like a cackling, and it sends coldness down my spine.

  “Sounds like Troga,” Eleanor whispers.

  I just nod. It does sound like the young dragon that kept us captive for months. It’s an evil sound with meaning behind it. It’s not just some bird that makes a mating call – this sound comes from a thinking being, and it has nothing good in mind.

  “Think we’ll be standing here for a minute? Because I really have to go.”

  I half-turn. Eleanor has crossed her legs and clearly has a certain need.

  “I have no idea,” I respond truthfully. “But if you have to, then do it now.”

  She looks around. “I slept too long because of the darkness. And then when I saw you leaving, I had no time to... do anything.”