The Ways Between Worlds: Peter Cooper

by Larry E. Clarke

  We hurried down the tunnel and crawled through the familiar opening, now slightly enlarged by our many comings and goings.

  In the narrow space inside the tunnel the pack would have a harder time encircling us. We could bunch them up outside at the narrow opening. Only one or two at a time might try to enter.

  Leeta, had the short bow which she handled so well. However, her quiver held only a dozen of the heavily fletched arrows. We’d not planned to do any hunting.

  I left Leeta to watch for their arrival and ran into the dome to look for some kind of weapon. I found a heavy metal bar about half my height in one pile of rubble. It was too heavy to handle easily but better than nothing.

  "They come Pe-Tar" Leeta shouted.

  As I raced back, pausing just long enough to toss several 5 to 10 kg blocks of rubble to our position behind the opening.

  In the final seconds we worked frantically to collapse or fill as much of that opening with materials at hand. Most of the debris we had removed had been small pieces easier for us to handle. Unfortunately now that we frantically tried to fill the gap we could see they would be removed as quickly and easily by the drakor than they had been put in place by us.

  For a few seconds I heard nothing, but soon the warbling howls reached my ears. We looked at each other in the dim light of the tunnel and braced for their arrival, each of us reading the fear on the other's face. Somehow, just seeing how distressed Leeta was calmed me. I was determined to remain calm for her sake.

  Louder and louder the howls grew until they reached a deafening intensity as they echoed down the tunnel. The pack knew they were close to the kill and worked themselves into an absolute frenzy. Leeta began firing as soon as the first was in range of her bow. The leader took two arrows. Two more went astray before we rolled a stone into the opening. The drakor stank of something like very old urine.

  Snapping and howling the pack tore the wounded animal to pieces. In a few moments their comrade was dispatched and their full attention returned to us. They scratched and clawed with powerful forelegs at the rubble blocking the tunnel. The opening through which we had crawled was near the bottom of the original tunnel. Heavy beams had fallen against the tunnel wall where they supported rubble from the ceiling. Leeta scrambled to the rubble above the opening and shouted that she would be ready when they broke through.

  Within the confined space I struck as forcefully as I could at the animals clawing their way toward us. They were rapidly enlarging the opening around the stones that prevented their entry. I struck frantically at the snouts and claws of the lead animals. Still they pressed on while I was being driven back. The lead animal squirmed through the enlarged opening and forced its way out. Leeta slammed down a large peice of rubble from her perch above crushing his back and hind legs. I finished the job with the bar, hammering at his thick skull until I had beaten it to bloody pieces. The dead animal’s companions pulled the body back through the opening and another rushed forward in its place. It met the same fate. For a few seconds there were no new attempts to enter. Perhaps the feeble brains of the drakor had finally gotten the message that we were not going to be easy prey, that we too could do some damage.

  Soon though, another drakor nosed warily through the opening and withdrew just in time to miss the huge stone Leeta had flung down at it. Growing bolder it pushed inside again, its yellow teeth flecked with ruddy foam. This time Leeta delayed as the animal entered too far to pull back in time. Her stone crushed it's ribs, but still it attacked.

  Falling back a step and swung the bar with all my might. Blood spattered from its head and it fell silent at my feet. As two more entered. I climbed above the opening to pass more heavy pieces of rubble to Leeta.

  She continued to rain rocky death and destruction on members of the pack as they waddled through the opening while I fought the two who had managed to enter.

  They were at a disadvantage trying to climb the rubble and attack my legs. This left them easier targets for the bloody bar. I half crushed the skull and jaw of one. As I was turning to finishing him off a searing pain raked my lower leg. The claws of his mate had raked through my boot and into my calf. Oblivious to their losses the frenzied survivors continued the attack. Leeta and I were spattered with blood.

  My club dripped with it, my own blood flowed down my leg and into my boot. The beasts fought forward and were killed until but a single animal remained.

  This one, smarter or more cowardly than the others, pushed through the opening enough to see its prey was still there then retreated. There was no opportunity to strike.

  Leeta saw what was happening and retrieved her bow and remaining two arrows from where she has tossed them in the rubble. Dropping to one knee in front of the opening she shot twice. The animal howled in pain, but continued forward.

  "After him Pe-tar. If he escapes he will bring others".

  We lept into pursuit. As we scrambled out the tunnel we saw the last of the pack had fallen just 20 meters out from the dome. I approached to crush its head and finish it off.

  "Wait, Pe-Tar. Even as they die they can kill."

  This said she extracted two arrows from the bodies of fallen drakor, moved a few steps closer, drew the bow fully back loosed first one shaft and then the other. Both buried to half their length in the chest of the animal that soon stopped moving.

  The entire encounter had take less than 30 minutes from the time I'd sighted the first drakor. That half hour was the watershed event in my life.

  If I'd survived this I could survive anything. I'd learned that I could count on myself and on Leeta in a crisis. In the thick of the fight we'd both gone on quite methodically with the killing. Despite her fears of our pursuers we'd never yielded to panic. Bolan had taught her well. We were both exhausted. The encounter with the drakor confirmed that to be without weapons on this world was to invite an early death.

  We drank deeply from the leather bota Leeta carried. Without speaking I accepted a handfull of seeds and nuts from a pouch. I was exhausted and I was elated to be alive. I was glad to have killed every animal in the pack that would have killed me. With thoughts and emotions still racing we returned to our original purpose and re-entered the dome.

  We walked toward the couch on which I'd first arrived. In the shadows at the far end we each glimpsed something very large and mottled move quickly into the shadows. Leeta nocked one of several arrows she had recovered from drakor corpses. My hand tightened around the bloodied metal bar.

  CHAPTER 7

  Leeta watched our backs as I examined the area. Neither of us had much strength left but we’d come this far and I was not leaving without at least a quick look. Each time before whenever I’d returned I’d taken some care not to further disturb the dust near the couch. I guess I read too many detective novels as a kid, but I figured if anyone else were to arrive looking for me they were bound to make tracks which I could use Robinson- Crusoe-like to discover them.

  In fact, the dust had been disturbed! There were scrape marks in the dusty surface where something quite large had slipped down from atop it. My bare footprints lead away but on top of these now there were large prints, roughly the size and shape of a dessert plate. Something had recently arrived but there was no sign of it in the immediate area. It might have come. . . and gone, , , almost a full day ago..

  We turned and strode back toward the tunnel that we'd left littered with the bodies of the drakor. As we knelt to crawl through the opening beneath the rubble Leeta laid her hand on my shoulder. "Pe-tar have you strength for another difficult job?"

  "What is it?"

  "We must skin the drakor bofore they spoil or before the carrion eaters ruin them."

  "Whatever for? The things are horrible looking."

  "That may be Pe-tar but if we ever leave here the hides can be traded for things we may greatly need."

  So. . .we began the odious task of skinning the drakor. I went through first and at Leeta's insistence waited on the other side while she passed
through the limp bodies of the drakor. When Leeta followed the last through we began we began dragging the dead drakor to the mouth of the tunnel.

  All together there were sixteen corpses. The pack had not been as large as I'd thought. Three of the corpses had been ripped almost beyond recognition by their comrades. To avoid the scavengers the scent of rotting corpses would certainly have attracted we threw these behind a tumble down wall a good hundred meters from the tunnel mouth. The skinned carcasses of their pack-mates would join them later.

  We found a shaded spot near a large flat hunk of masonry that would serve as a table and prepared to skin the rest. I dragged out two animals at a time but it was a real chore. Short and squat, each weighed in the neighborhood of 20 kg. Leeta usually pulled one out at a time, dragging it by the two hindmost legs. As soon as all were outside Leeta began showing me how to skin them.

  She had a small belt knife of what looked to be of good steel. After making a cut across the width of the throat up behind the pig ears and down the other side she then slit from the thing's anus to the cut at the throat. Next came cuts down each set of legs and soon she was ready for my help in pulling the hide from the carcass. For a guy who wouldn't have known how to cut up and fry a chicken . . . I did pretty well. Once or twice the whole grisly business made me a bit queasy but that soon passed.

  After the first hide was stripped Leeta set me to scraping bits of flesh that adhered to the underside. My crystal blade was fairly well suited to this task.

  It was late afternoon by the time the last of the hides was stripped and the last carcass disposed. Leeta had me find a length of vine from the undergrowth among the buildings. With this she bound the hides into bundles for us to carry. The whole job had gone faster than I would have imagined. Leeta was obviously experienced at such matters.

  "I think when we come back tomorrow Leeta it will be the last time I come to the dome. I'll sketch a map of the area and let them find me. I've left plenty of messages inside for any of my kind to know I'm here."

  The next day Leeta and I were back at noon outside the dome. The drakor hides were near the tree soaking in a bath of salt, ashes, as much of our own urine we could collect and some unrecognizable ingredients Leeta claimed would help cure them.

  As we had approached the scene of the previous day's battle I felt a deepening cold sweat. Even though I told myself we had killed all of the drakor pack and the danger was no longer here my body wasn't buying it. Just thinking of how close we'd come to having our guts ripped out had me going. It didn't help when I heard what seemed to be a low moan as we approached the tunnel. The sounds were of an animal in distress or a cow calling to its calf, but not quite. Leeta and I froze, listening for the source of the sound, but it was not repeated.

  The day was overcast and rain was threatening. I'd picked a hell of a day for our last pilgrimage here. I suppose that from the first I knew that the chance of being rescued was very slim, but somehow making the daily trek here had given some focus to the last weeks. It wasn't as if I had to be up and at the office by 9:00 each morning. Coming here structured my day. Finally, I forced myself to acknowledge that the trips here were pointless. They were producing nothing, apart from a small boost to my morale, which I was now strong enough to do without.

  I carried with me today a crude but perfectly functional map which I'd drawn of the area, a pot of red paints from Leeta's collection, and one of the pale green lamps from the tree. We shook up the bioluminescent soupwhich had been cultured inside the enormous egg and it began to glow more brightly. It wasn't like a good flashlight but it was better than nothing on this gloomy day.

  Behind me Leeta also carried an egg. Like mine, hers was in a basket woven especially to hold it for easy carrying. She also had her bow, a full quiver of arrows and two short javelins. Seems like I wasn't the only one who was a bit nervous.

  Once inside things went smoothly. Leeta helped me paint red arrows on the walls pointing to the place where I'd spread the map on top of a couch and weighted it down with stones.

  A blind man could scarcely have missed all the messages and directions I'd left. After less than 10 minutes inside we were ready to go. As we turned to leave our dim lamps caught the eyes of a large creature blocking our way to the exit. It was beyond the range of our dim lights. Only the reflection from its eyes had allowed us to notice it at all. Leeta nocked an arrow and I took both of the javelins she had carried. Whatever it was its eyes were almost as far from the ground as Leeta's or mine.

  The short hairs partially re-grown on my neck stood erect. The tension was almost unbearable. There was no way out as the creature stood directly in front of the only tunnel leading out.

  It just stood there.

  I motioned to Leeta and we began backing slowly toward the wall of the dome 20 or more meters behind us. I thought perhaps we could avoid an attack. As we reached the wall the thing had followed, just out of range of the light.

  "Lets stay together Leeta and move to our left. If that thing maintains its distance we can work our way to the exit." We kept our weapons trained began to back away. From the direction of the creature we heard "llesstaytogehter"

  "Did you hear Pe-tar? The thing is mimicking my voice."

  Before Leeta could answer the creature repeated

  "imikingmivoice"

  We kept backing around the perimeter of the dome to our only way out. The creature followed us neither closing the distance nor letting us widen the gap.

  "Say something Leeta"

  "SsayssomethignLeeta"

  "Leave us be creature" she called out in soprano tones. It had a hard time matching the higher pitch of her voice but once again it came back.

  "Lleaveussbeecreeture"

  By now we had pretty well flanked the creature and were within twenty yards of the exit.

  "Leeta, when we get to the tunnel we will run for it. You go first. I'll follow you through. Understand?

  "Yes"

  "Now! Run" I shouted.

  We both scrambled for the entrance. I hesitated only long enough to see that the creature was still too far away to overtake us before scrambling through myself. We ran along the corridor until rubble blocked the way then dropped to our hands and knees. We crawled out just as quickly as we had crawled in yesterday with the drakor on our tails. Out of the tunnel we dropped behind the cover of a stout section of broken wall.

  Shaking and breathing heavily we spent several minutes pacing vigilantly behind the cover of wall to calm down and to think. In the end we looked at each other and grinned. Neither was hurt and both of us had begun to see the irony of our flight from the creature that mimicked better than a mynah bird.

  Then another thought hit me. How in the hell had that thing gotten in there anyway? The hole through the rubble in the tunnel had been enlarged only a little from the time I first wiggled through. . . but it was still a tight squeeze. From the glimpses we got in the dim light the thing inside the dome was the size and shape of a moose.

  I was relatively confident that none of the many entrances and exits to the dome were open. If the thing had not gotten in the way we had. . . and if there were no other ways in that left only a couple of options. It had either gotten in there when it was small and grown a lot or it had been transported there just like I’d been!

  This last idea put a whole new light on everything. This was no dumb animal with a gift for mimicking sounds, but a sentient being who had done the best it could to communicate without frightening us. It had spoken in our own language. It had kept its distance and done nothing to intimidate us. My own first contact with Leeta flashed back to me.

  "Leeta, that thing in the dome is a person. It was trying to talk to us. It must have gotten in there the same way I did. Do you understand? Do you know what that means".

  "If this is from your world why did you not know it?"

  "No, no, not from my world but from another world. Not from my world. Not from your world."

  Without speaking w
e started back to the tunnel.

  "Hello, we came back.” I called in English as we entered the tunnel. The words echoed down the rounded walls of the corridor leading to the rubble blockade. In reply I heard what sounded again like well modulated bellows from a cow or similar animal.

  Then, "Helllooweecambak."

  Once more I was trembling but this time it was with excitement, over the implications of what finding this creature here meant. If it had known how to get here perhaps it might tell me how I could get home.

  Two hours later Leeta and I were still enlarging the hole beneath our side of the rubble. Moving the small stuff wasn’t so difficult but there were several large pieces of something like reinforced concrete that could not yet be moved.

  As we worked we kept up a dialogue that wasn't really understood on either side of the opening. There was lots of lowing and bleating which Leeta and I did our best to copy, and a continued repetition of whatever we said.

  Finally we had done as much as could be done from the outside. To clear the passage I would need to crawl back through and topple outward a single large block of stone which was blocking the way. I was more than a little nervous at the prospect of returning to such close quarters with the alien but if we were going to free it from the dome it must be done. I figured that if it had wanted to harm us there had been plenty of opportunity when we were inside.

  Once back on the other side I could see what had been echoing our words for the last two hours. She/He/It was, in fact, roughly the size of a small moose or maybe a good sized cow. It was a quadruped with feet the size of small plates. Large round eyes were set wide on the side of its head. Its skin was all blotchy with alternating light and dark areas like some sort of Holstein or zebra. Beneath its chin a small set of "arms" ended in a three fingered hand. For such a powerful looking animal the arms looked puny and out of place.

  As I reentered the lower tunnel it moved back from the opening. I pointed to the large slab blocking the way and pantomimed that I intended to push it inward. "Push" I mimed.