Step on the Sun

by Doug Plamping

  With her voice shaking Amy said, “I'm Amy Elizabeth La Reine, from the nation of the United States of America on the planet Earth, of the sun Sol. The language we spoke was one of the languages from our planet. A human, Simon, has given us a task to complete and we are journeying to Great Island One to learn Galactic in order to undertake that task.”

  The spider stretched upwards while Amy was speaking, but then it settled back down into the crouched position. “I am Westscout of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite. These hills are our territory and only we hunt here. You are polite, but you have much to learn; your Galactic is terrible.”

  Amy was having a difficult time understanding all that the spider said, as it was not enunciating the words as it did at first. Amy thought that the comment on territory and hunting might be important. “We did not intentionally intrude on your territory; we were hiding from the sandstorm, and we have not hunted here. We brought our own food and water.”

  “That is good. You are polite. I had the right to attack you for the intrusion but I chose not to do so because of the strange shelter you put up. Besides you have no fat on you.”

  Amy saw that Paul was keeping his attention on the spider, but was glancing at the rocks around them. Frank had gotten over his fright and was now anxious to join the conversation. “What is strange about our shelter?”

  Westscout stretched up and seemed to be about to pounce on Frank. She hissed, “Be polite you idiot; introduce yourself first!”

  Frank with a shaky voice introduced himself, “Frank Bristol Wiseman, from the nation of Canada on Earth. My apologies. I was just curious.”

  Westscout moved back down to the crouched position. “It is good to be polite Frank Bristol Wiseman; it may prevent you from being killed.” Frank’s face was white, and Amy could see that he didn’t want to talk now. Westscout turned with a shuffle of his legs to face Paul.

  Paul gave a quick bow and carefully enunciated, “Westscout of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, my name is Paul Augustine Fortezza, from the nation of Italy on Earth. If you would like to examine the shelter, our ‘tent’, I would be pleased to pull it out of the rock place for you.”

  Westscout returned to its crouched position. “Paul Augustine Fortezza, it is good that two of you are polite. Where a majority are polite we do not kill them. I will examine this 'tent'. A hole in the rocks is called a cave. You also need to improve your Galactic. Your grammar is terrible.”

  Amy watched Westscout leap without apparent effort from the rocks onto the sand. She realized that he? she? it? could have attacked them at any time. Amy watched as Paul pulled the backpacks, sleeping bags, water bottles, and Amy’s red pillow, out of the tent and then just lifted the dome tent out of the cave onto the sand in front of Westscout. Frank pulled Amy further back, a long way back, to give room for Westscout to examine the tent. Frank was trembling, frightened by this huge alien spider in front of her.

  Paul showed Westscout how the carbon-fiber poles slotted together and bent to support the tent. Amy realized she was hyperventilating, and took some deep breaths to calm down. She focused on their situation; Simon told them that the spiders were large and dangerous. Why hadn’t he told them that they were intelligent? If you took Westscout’s name literally, it might mean that this spider was a scout for the Clan in the west end of their territory, probably meaning that the spiders claimed all of the hills from here to the east end of the range they’d seen. So why didn’t Simon tell them to go around the far west end of the hills and avoid the spiders?

  Paul was showing Westscout their backpacks and different items in the pockets. Paul, using his limited Galactic, was telling Westscout how things were made.

  Amy wondered how many intelligent species there might be. They’d found aliens on the first planet they traveled to! At first Amy was thinking of Westscout as some sort of huge tarantula, but with no hair and a finish of its shell more like an ocean crab than a spider, it was clearly something else. A funny thought came to mind, and Amy saw Frank looking at her curiously. “Oh, I was just thinking that after this I’ll never be scared by a tiny Earth spider again!” Frank just nodded and forced a smile. Frank appeared to be still processing his close brush with death. Maybe this would cure him of speaking before thinking.

  Paul walked over to them while Westscout watched. Westscout seemed to be ignoring Frank, and Amy didn’t know if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

  Once Paul was standing next to her, Westscout made a high pitched tone. Amy jumped; she didn’t know what it meant. She guessed that it might be ceremonial. She whispered, “Bow!” They all bowed to Westscout. Amy sensed that this was the right response.

  “I have taught Paul Augustine Fortezza new words. Paul Augustine Fortezza, teach your companions the new words.”

  Paul told them the Galactic words for technology, industry, manufacture, machine, and production. Amy and Frank repeated them back; that was what Westscout seemed to want, although she was not sure how she could know what a spider wanted.

  When they were ready Westscout continued, “The technology and industry on your planet is unique. Our Clan does not know of any other planet like this in this part of the galaxy, none other has technology like yours. You are three, led by a female who carries a Master Wayfarer’s staff, and we set a task for you. When you return this way in 64 days you must camp and wait here. Our Clan leader will speak with you. Amy Elizabeth La Reine, you must promise to return.”

  Amy was puzzled by this. “I promise to return. But what if we are not here at the right time?”

  “Then you are not the three.” With that, Westscout leapt backwards onto the rocks above the cave and in seconds was gone. The scraping sounds seemed to come from all around them and Amy looked curiously at the rocks on each side.

  Paul nodded, whispering in English, “Westscout was not alone. If we’d tried to fight we wouldn’t have had a chance!” Paul nodded again to the rocks with a wink. She understood that there could still be a spider listening.

  Amy suggested, “I think we should continue to speak in Galactic, to practice as was suggested, and to be polite to our hosts.”

  * * *

  Amy collected her backpack, checked that everything was secure, and put her pillow on top of everything else. Paul had already packed the tent in his demonstration for Westscout, so he attached it to his backpack. Paul led them up the rocks, to the far side of the hill, and to a valley between the remaining hills that should lead them to the village and the Transit Station. As they walked they discussed the Boat Pillar, the wreaked boat, and the possibility of a city under the sands. A safe topic while still in the territory of the spiders.

  On the far side of the hills they entered onto a plain with small hills scattered around. There was grass but it was dry and sparse. There were a few small cactus-like bushes. Paul stopped and put down his backpack, announcing in English, “No one can get close enough to hear us now. What did you make of the last announcement by Westscout?”

  Amy decided that this was the time to make a point. “Frank. You were lucky. We were all lucky. You could have gotten us all killed.”

  Frank was defensive, “That’s not fair! I just asked a question.”

  Amy shook her head, “That’s not the point. We’re not rich tourists in a poor country where they’ll put up with endless questions. This is their planet and you have to live, or die, by their rules. Simon talked about politeness, and Westscout seemed to value politeness, so I think that we should be polite until we know otherwise.” Amy locked her eyes on Frank’s face until he nodded acceptance. “And we’d better talk Galactic all the time, for practice, as it seems,” Amy mimicked Westscout’s voice, “our Galactic is terrible!”

  Paul nodded in agreement, and asked in Galactic, “Why didn’t Simon tell us the spiders were intelligent?”

  Amy decided not to mention her suspicion that this might be a test, she could be wrong. Answering in Galactic, she said “I don’t know. Maybe because he thought we would avoi
d them. When he told us the spiders were large I thought that they were like tarantulas, maybe six inches across, not six feet!”

  Paul and Frank laughed at that.

  Frank said, “I think…”

  Amy interrupted, “Galactic, Frank.”

  Frank looked startled but then realized what Amy wanted. Frank lifted his hands in exasperation with himself. “Sorry,” he said in Galactic. “I agree we have to be more serious about this. It’s dangerous out here, but I don’t think we have to turn back. If Simon said there was danger, then we’d better be careful.” Frank looked to Paul for support.

  Paul nodded, “I agree. Frank, show us what Simon said about the next archway, and where we’ll arrive.”

  Frank pulled out his laptop and set it on his knees in the shadow of his body. Paul and Amy watched over his shoulder. They watched and heard Simon say, “Use the outgoing green archway. Remember, use the staff, point the base, the end with the gold links in it, at the archway as you walk towards it together and just walk into the wall. Keep the staff in the archway until you are all through. You will feel a chill as you go through the archway, but that’s all. In the dome ignore the signs and go to the green archway that has a sign that says DO NOT USE - NO RETURN ARCHWAY. In case they took the sign down, I put three red rocks on the floor just to one side of the archway.”

  On Green Harbor Three you will arrive at a deserted city, and the Transit Station building on the north side of the square you are in has eight archways. I’ve explained the layout before. The far archway, marked with three red stones, goes to an incoming-only archway in an old mine on Great Island One. From there if you follow the valley to the west you will find the village of Ravinesedge. The people are friendly. Use my name and you can stay there and practice your Galactic. You need to stay until you sound like a local, and can disguise yourselves to look local.”

  Paul didn’t like this situation. “Simon said that the locals don’t like outsiders to use their archways and we have to sneak in, so I suggest we treat these people as dangerous.”

  Amy agreed, and she could see that Frank wanted them to be careful. “What do we do?”

  “We’ll have to scout the village first and see. I’ll take the lead. Stay back, but keep me in sight.” Paul headed off on a route that would take him around the side of the next hill. Amy was puzzled at first but then realized that if they walked over the top, they would show up against the sky. She recognized that if they were to be more careful, she needed to ask for Paul’s advice more often. When Paul was 100 yards ahead, she called to Frank, “Let’s go.” Frank was busy examining a cactus.

  Frank hustled to catch up with Amy. “Why did the spider teach us new words?”

  “First the spider’s name was Westscout of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite. Second, if you listened to their conversation you would have heard Paul trying to explain about factories and manufacturing. Westscout gave him the words to confirm what they were talking about. Better to ask why Simon didn’t teach us any of those words, or have them in his dictionary? Why is Westscout of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, who lives on a rock pile on the edge of the desert, so interested in something that was manufactured? And why 64 days, why not 60?”

  Amy saw that Frank was thinking about what she’d said. He pulled out his pad from a pocket on his backpack and started to write on the screen. Frank gave Amy a funny smile, “I'll add them to the dictionary later! What was that statement about three of us? Simon was interested in the fact that there were three of us too. Why three?”

  “I don’t know. There’s too much we don’t know. Do we come back in 64 days? What's that date on Earth?” As she followed Paul through the valley, Amy thought about what Westscout said, but found no answers. As they walked Frank tried to work out how long the day was here on Desert Stronghold Two, based on where this planet’s sun was yesterday, when they arrived at the Boat Pillar.

  * * *

  Amy set her backpack down and crawled up to the ridge to join Paul. Frank was alongside her. Through some bushes she could see a small village. There was a stone building forming the south side of a square, and forming the other sides of the square there was a sprawl of small brown buildings. She could see that there were two archways, red and green, in the back wall of the stone building. It was the Transit Station that Simon had talked about. There was some activity around the square; adults were sitting in the shade under cloth canopies, and children were playing in doorways.

  Paul pointed to the stone building. “Simon said this was a Transit Station with two archways and we need the green archway on the left. Do you see any dogs down there?”

  Frank whispered, “No, but there may be no dogs on this planet. They could have some other type of animal to give alarm.”

  “Good point!” said Paul. Frank grinned.

  Amy pointed at the hill behind the building, “Can we go around the village and sneak in from that hill.”

  “Yes, but we’ll still have to wait until it’s dark to sneak in. We can use flashlights, but we’ll have to be careful not to shine them towards the village. Let’s get around the village while it’s still light.” Paul eased himself backwards from the crest of the ridge, and after a last look at the village, she followed him down to the backpacks.

  Going around the village while keeping behind the hills took the rest of the day. It was dusk before they were behind the Transit Station, looking at it from the crest of a nearby hill.

  Paul whispered, “This is further away than I thought. We will have to sneak closer while there is still some light. If we go around this hill to the right, we can move closer to the building. In cadet exercises we used night-vision goggles, which would have made this easier.”

  Frank pulled out his pad, and while making a note whispered, “Why not? With the money from the sapphires we can afford them.”

  Paul eased back from the crest of the hill. Amy and Frank followed.

  They stopped at the end of a gully, about 200 yards from the back of the building. It was dark now, with stars and no moons in the sky. Amy could only see the outline of the building. “What’s that?” Amy whispered, pointing at a brilliant brown line in the sky.

  Frank whispered back, “This solar system has a dust ring around the sun; they can see it from Earth. We must be in line with the dust ring, so we’re looking at the edge of it. It also has a second star but I can’t see it. In the TV series Babylon 5, the space station was at this star. Weird eh?” He added, “I need us to stay here until sunset so I can work out the length of a day on this planet.”

  As they watched the villagers prepare for the coming night, a group formed a circle around one of the cooking fires. Someone played something like a guitar. The people in the circle clapped in time to the music. They danced separately, each in their own spot, but they chatted and laughed as they danced, applauding at the end of each tune. Between the tunes, a brief discussion took place, more like lobbying, on the next tune. Some of the older women brought out globe shaped rattles, setting a beat twice as fast as the music. Once it was dark, the dancers said goodnight to each other and headed into the buildings around the square. Flickering candles, seen through some of the open windows, and the cooking fires gave a faint illumination to the square.

  Paul switched on his flashlight, hiding the beam from the village by using his cap. “Let’s go, its dark enough,” Paul whispered.

  They reached the back of the building without any trouble. Paul switched off his flashlight and moved along the building wall to look around the corner. Over his shoulder Amy could just see the shape of the smaller buildings. Hopefully, the villagers couldn’t see them. Paul signaled for them to follow him. She moved quietly, keeping her feet away from the small bushes. There were still people around the cooking fires. Should they have waited longer? No one seemed to see them, and Paul, ahead of her, turned towards the left archway, now black in the dark. Amy followed, moving quickly to get out of the light from the fires. Frank was right behind her. The buildin
g was empty. Paul shone his flashlight on the archway and that spot showed up as green. They were in the right place.

  Amy and Frank both grabbed Paul’s backpack, and held their staff’s straight up and down. Simon hadn’t told them what happened when there was more than one staff, another question to ask. Paul pointed the thick end of his staff at the green archway and walked forward. It was hard to see in the flickering light from the fires but the wall seemed to ripple and the staff just slid into the wall. Paul’s arm disappeared, then his body, and before Amy was ready, his backpack dragged her into the wall.

  Chapter 15 – Two Planets

  A chill moved up her fingers as they disappeared into the archway, and she felt some resistance, having to push through. Weirdest was when the chill hit her eyeballs. Paul was keeping his staff in the archway until they were all the way through. Light! She was looking at a huge yellow dome, while the rest of her body was still coming through the archway. It was disorienting, and she stumbled a bit as she took her first step into the dome.

  They all stopped in front of the archway. “Wow, that was weird,” she whispered into the silent dome.

  They were in a recess about as deep as she was tall, the same shape as the archway. The archway behind them was red; they couldn’t go back that way. She saw seven other archways around the dome. A wood post and rope separated the pillar and its circle from the rest of the dome. There were chairs and tables, and a sign in front of each of the archways.

  “I didn’t think it would be so big!” Amy gasped. The circle around the pillar seemed huge in the mural and on the platforms. Here it seemed tiny. “Guys, this is what I have been dreaming about, a big yellow dome.”

  Frank pointed. “There’s the sign that Simon told us to look for.” It was two arches clockwise around the dome. The archway was roped off.

  Conversation in the dome penetrated the silence. A group of three men with wicker baskets on their backs came through the archway opposite them. Conversation stopped when the men saw them. They seemed alarmed and undecided on what to do.