by Brian King
“So, you do have a sense of humor. Your secret is safe with me,” I told her with exaggerated stealth. She was usually so serious I began to wonder if she had a sense of humor at all. When we reached Galmine, the rock woman seemed to know Sheela and I were playing around.
“You two are glowing,” Galmine said with both happiness and accusation. “Just like two lovers keeping secrets.” She winked at me but also smiled broadly at Sheela.
“Please stop. You know I am married. Victor and I were speaking of our desire for what is inside that clay container.” Sheela pointed at the old clay water pot.
“Married, yes,” the rock woman answered. “But there is something in your eyes.”
“You are acting very silly. May I have the water?” Sheela sounded overly serious, as if she really wanted to change the subject.
While Sheela took a swig, I tried to think of something to distract my green-eyed friend.
“Galmine, what are you working on inside?”
“I ripped up all the leaves I could find. We’ll need more so we can keep creating cord. Can you get some more? And, dearest Victor, while you are out, perhaps you could get me some more fish and a bucket of clay. I want to stay busy, like you two lovebirds.” Galmine giggled and flashed her bright white teeth.
I tried to ignore her playfulness because she’d hit on something deadly serious. Part of managing this project was keeping the workers occupied in every waking moment. She was going to be out of chores and thus doing nothing to help our momentum. There were actually going to be two people sitting idly inside the cave if I didn't get Galmine more leaves to work on. Or axes to sharpen, or clay to make pots, or food to cook. I had to keep her busy, or I'd be wasting a resource.
I considered a reply as I took a drink from the clay container. I’d worked on our primary project for a very short time today, but we still had the entire afternoon and evening of hard, outdoor labor. We did so much sweating I was pretty sure we’d need a second water run to go with all our other problems. My heart skipped a few beats just thinking about it.
The cave opening was right there, which gave me an idea.
“I want you two safe, but will you wait outside the cave for a few minutes? I want to talk alone to Trel to see if she’ll work with us.” I didn’t want my friends outside where danger was lurking, but I wanted to see if I could appeal to Trel with a private conversation.
“I fear she will not, Victor, as long as she believes help is on the way,” Sheela replied.
“I do love her hopeful spirit,” Galmine added as I handed the water back to her. “And I thought as she did for some time, but each day I think that less and less.”
“Yeah, I probably lost that hope about ten minutes after I saw the two moons,” I admitted. I could be brutally honest with myself and admit humanity would never find a way to reach me. Even if someone back home knew I was gone, they’d have no way to cross the stars to retrieve me. Nevermind that a glorified dog catcher wasn’t worth the resources necessary for an interstellar rescue.
“The beings who took us seem very powerful,” the green-eyed woman said as a final thought to our exchange.
I smiled a last time at my friends and then spun to head up the ramp. I paused just before I entered the cave to consider my options with Trel. The other two women both seemed to accept the overwhelming hopelessness of our abduction and deposit on this world, but Trel did not, so I needed a way to convince her. That gave me a nugget of an idea, but I would have to work it all out once I spoke to her.
I went into the cave intending to call Trel out of her nook but halted when I realized she was already standing at the fire on just her human legs. I also caught a flash of motion behind her as Jinx bounced onto his woodpile and went into what was fast becoming his home. I re-oriented my eyes onto the “winged” woman to find her wearing a disapproving scowl.
“You came in by yourself to win me over with your sappy male begging, is that it?” Trel asked sarcastically.
“Something like that,” I admitted. “Though I do not beg.”
She glared at me with her dark sinkhole eyes.
“Well then, dear Victor, give it your best shot,” she said while waving her hand as if to allow me to approach her. I did step closer to the fire but stopped before getting right where she pointed.
“It’s true. I need your help. We have less than a month to build a huge structure, and the only person here who is an expert at construction is you. Every time you open your mouth to belittle or mock me, you somehow make my life easier. I’m tempted to go on letting you yell at me just so I can keep taking notes on your great ideas, but that takes time and energy. I’d rather have you at my side so we can work together.” I spoke in an even and respectful voice.
Trel looked behind me toward the cave door and whatever she saw there seemed to satisfy her.
“Did they tell you to talk to me?” she asked.
“No, they basically told me not to,” I replied.
“Then why are you here, male? When two women give you sage advice, I think you should take it,” she said in a scolding tone.
“Can I sit here?” I asked in an effort to make our meeting a little less formal.
“I cannot stop you,” she replied.
Anger at her attitude overwhelmed me as I took a seat by the fire. I inhaled a calming breath and forced myself to say, “Thank you.”
I organized my thoughts and cobbled together a plan. I didn’t think I could outsmart her, so I had to out-truth her, and the only way to do that was with logic. She wasn’t going to be affected by emotional pleas like Galmine, nor would she be swayed with what was right in front of her like Sheela. I had to make it both personal and logical.
“Do you mind if I ask what you were doing when you were abducted, Trel-Idil-Iria?”
“My private life is none of your business, but how about this? What were you doing when you were taken, male? Were you creating a multi-step master plan to use the toilet?” She let out a sarcastic laugh.
Shit. So much for personal.
“No. I was taken while I was doing my job.” I continued to breathe deep to keep myself from reacting to her insult. “I had just collected a runaway snake from a pool party filled with gorgeous women. The aliens must have had a ship or something in the sky above me because they ripped me right out of the truck and off my world. For all I know, they took the truck, too. If that’s true, no one on Earth knows I was taken.”
It saddened me to hear myself say it out loud. Sure, Beatrice might wonder where I was, but she’d probably be equally concerned with her missing truck. My parents were gone, and I had no family to speak of. Even Lacey would have no idea that I’d left her life forever; she’d probably just think I flaked out on coming back to her party. I must have gotten lost in thought because Trel coughed to get my attention.
“Yeah, so, uh, you should know that my planet is always on the lookout for aliens. It’s like our world’s hobby. We have satellites, and radio telescopes pointed at the stars to try to find evidence that aliens are out there. We have huge militaries with warships and tanks and shit all over the planet. We--” She interrupted me.
“I’m anxious to find the end to your rambling,” she said with an exasperated sigh.
“Right. The point is even with all that technology, my planet could do nothing to stop the aliens, or even see them. They flew right through all those defenses and plucked me and my truck from one of the biggest cities on Earth, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t fight back. We have rockets and shuttles but nothing that could ever reach this place.”
“I understand. But your primitive world sounds as backward as you are. My people are far more advanced. We have space yachts and trading partners across our star system. They will undoubtedly have tracked us to this world and are even now planning a rescue.” Trel spoke with her usual self-assurance. I almost envied that level of blind devotion to an idea as comforting as rescue.
“Maybe. You could be right. And d
espite everything I say, I really do hope you get rescued. It would mean your people are in a different league than the aliens who are running this shitty experiment.”
She looked around the cave as if seeing something deeper than the rock walls surrounding us.
“When you first appeared, and recognized the monsters outside were from your world, I figured you were responsible for all this. Lone male. Cocky and wanting to take charge. Yet, my superior intellect quickly figured out that was impossible if you are representative of your species.” Trel let out a light laugh, but then stopped when I only shrugged.
“But,” she continued, “I admit that if this world were constructed by aliens and populated with these huge monsters culled from your backward planet, those builders would pose a formidable military challenge for my sisters. However, we have our secrets, too, though I don’t trust you, or them, enough to share any.” She pointed to the cave wall to indicate she was talking about the aliens.
“So, your people can build entire worlds like this one?” I asked in a hopeful tone.
“I did not say that,” she replied with annoyance.
“Can your people fly into the airspace of enemy worlds without being seen?”
“Victor, I did not say that,” she stated dryly.
“I’m trying to figure out the difference between your technology and theirs. I admit my world has a basic tech level far below yours. We can’t cross the stars, for example. If you are way more advanced than us, I just have to wonder how the aliens got through your defenses undetected so they could take you. That’s why I asked where you were when they got you. Maybe you were in a remote area like Sheela when she was snatched? It might explain how they got around your super-secret technology.”
I took a guess that Trel wasn’t the kind of woman to go out on her own and be lost in nature, like Sheela. If she was as powerful and important as she said she was, I expected her to live inside a bunker with multiple layers of guards and protection, especially if she had ten thousand males after her.
“Is that your point? To insult my world and those who would rescue me? If so, you’ve found something else at which you excel.” She sounded disgusted.
“No. Not at all,” I said with a sigh. “Why do you always read me wrong? I’m saying your world sounds way smarter than mine. Like a thousand years smarter, at least. The human race can barely agree on the color of the sky.” I laughed when I thought about how little my race knew about aliens or the galaxy. “So traveling to the stars is pretty much impossible for us right now. It’s painful to admit, but my people are never coming for me.”
I sighed at the truth of that statement but pushed on to drive home my point.
“Sheela and Galmine both said their peoples lack space flight, so all our hopes are on you. I’m hopeful your sisters will blast in and save us. But I needed to know how sure you were that your people could overcome the aliens who swooped in, grabbed you, and ran without firing a shot. If I were ever going to risk my life by waiting in the cave with you, I would want to be absolutely certain your people would be here.”
Trel’s dark eyes peered into mine. She was so beautiful it was tempting to look away, but I held her gaze to try to prove I wasn’t there to grovel or beg. I think Trel was counting on me begging at some point and maybe she was surprised I didn’t.
“You would consider my recommendation?” she asked with clear disbelief. “I’ve been saying my sisters would rescue me since the beginning.”
“That’s what Sheela said.” I felt like I had her right where I wanted her. “And I figure you wouldn’t risk your life unless you’ve looked logically at your chance of being rescued. I guess I really wanted to know what you thought.”
“And you still don’t believe me?” she said defensively.
“Look. You have no reason to accept I am telling the truth when I say I believe you. I would love to be in your shoes. As I said, my people are absolutely not coming. I know it deep in my heart, yet I still leave some hope for a miracle. You, however, have a legitimate reason to think you will be rescued. I don’t blame you for holding onto that until, well, forever.”
She did a double take.
“Oh. Okay then. So you think as I do?” Trel began. “That is a surprise, but a welcome one. Now, you see why you must stop your wasteful pursuits with Sheela and Galmine?”
It was the easy way out. I could sit in the relative safety of the cave until whatever was going to happen, happened. We might die from nesting birds, giant crocs, or something as simple as starvation. Right up until the end we could all sit around hoping for rescue.
“I wish I could, but ultimately it all comes down to living long enough to see those rescue ships. I don’t know when your sisters will come, and we only have a few weeks until the orange birds try and take this cave.”
“You sound like Sheela. She has spent too much time in the company of males.” Her reply didn’t have much of her normal snark. I felt like she had at least considered my words. It was pretty obvious by her own logic that her people weren’t as advanced as the aliens and that rescue was far from a sure thing.
I stood up, signaling my desire to get back to work.
“Trel, I would love to work with you. Everything you touch gets improved. Please consider becoming more involved with our project until your rescue arrives. You can even stay inside the cave if you want. We just need--” I said before she held up her hand to cut me off.
“So it finally comes out. You were here to beg and flatter after all. Here’s a better idea: why don’t you get involved in my award-winning project called ‘waiting for rescue’? Or just run off into the woods and die. I don’t care. You’ve been nothing but an annoyance since you’ve interrupted my life.” She waved her hand dismissively.
I was tempted to lob something verbally in return, but I’d made a huge amount of progress talking back and forth. It was by far our longest conversation and the one with the fewest insults. Not zero insults, but fewer than normal. I couldn’t throw all that away to make myself feel better.
“I’m done with this,” she said with nearly a growl after I didn’t leave immediately.
“I hear you, but there is one more thing I have to say before I get the other women,” I said in a sympathetic voice. It was clear I’d won our battle, but I also had to win the war. “I’m not the selfish person you think I am, Trel. I listen to all advice and use what works best, no matter who had the idea. That’s why we’re using your axe blade, twisting your cords, and building with logs lying on their sides as you suggested. But I’ll go the extra mile for you and promise that once we have the fort built, I’ll personally help you stockpile food and water in the cave. Maybe you can outlast the birds. I don’t know. But I won’t leave anyone to die. Not ever.”
I turned around and walked out before she could reply. It was probably going to be another insult, anyway.
When I emerged in the light of the afternoon, it felt like I’d returned to the real world. Numerous clocks continued to count down and more tasks piled up. My blood pressure spiked as all my problems flooded back in: Galmine needed something to do, Sheela and I needed to get back to cutting, and distant roars reminded me of the stakes.
The two women looked at me with anticipation after my big talk with Trel. Was it best to tell them I’d gotten nowhere?
That wasn’t exactly true. No matter how much Trel pretended to believe rescue was imminent, she was too smart to ignore logic forever. I’d planted the seed of doubt in her web while also purging the last inkling of the doubt from inside me. Nobody was coming. Long-term survival was our responsibility, and it was out of the hands of our home worlds. Taking the next step on that journey was up to me.
I took a deep breath of fresh air and felt the sun on my cheeks. I was alive and still playing whatever “game” this was called. As long as I could say that, I had the ability to help my new friends.
“It’s still just the three of us, and we have a mountain of work to do,” I sa
id to both of the beautiful women. “Let's get going.”
Chapter 11
Over the next ten days, I had plenty of time to wonder if my private talk with Trel made any impact on her. At the time, I thought it was obvious that our chances of rescue were unlikely, but instead of realizing she needed to help us survive, she became even more of a recluse. While the rest of us struggled to make our new home, the spider woman spent most of her time sulking in her private quarters.
Despite Trel’s lack of support, we managed to make considerable progress on our fort over those ten days. Sheela and I had spent today lifting the last of the logs onto our walls, and now the shell of our new fort was nearly complete. I was confident we’d have everything finished well before those birds showed up, and I’d almost stopped stressing out about it. We needed to make a door and add a little section of roof, but after that, we’d be move-in ready.
In some ways, I was amazed we’d gotten it done so fast. For every hour we spent constructing the fort it seemed like we devoted another two hours to hiding. It wasn’t unusual to spend short periods of time inside the cave while strange dinosaurs wandered through our grove. Even if they were peaceful herbivores grazing hundreds of yards away, I insisted we stay hidden until we were sure they were gone. That’s when we got super motivated to carve new spears or sharpen the old ones. I was willing to suffer the lost time on the fort as long as we avoided attracting any sort of predators.
But hiding wasn’t the worst of it. To keep on living, we still had to leave the safety of our cave for our daily chores. Sheela and I started each day with a run to the stream where we would fish, hunt, and forage for fruit and berries. We would bring it all back with refills of our water. This ate a good chunk of each morning, even if we didn’t have to hide from dinosaurs or take long detours on our return trips.
Galmine stayed as busy as Sheela and me. Each night we brought in the dull axes from a day of cutting, and she would spend her evening sharpening the blades. We found rocks of the correct shape, so she could make new axe blades to replace any that broke. Every few days we went back to the lake to collect clay for her so she could make more of the specialized water jugs. To top it all off, she’d rip leaves and wrap cord whenever we ran low out on the construction site.
