“Look out, t’Nop, you old wobblefin!” Hatrak scolded hoarsely. Zhi also grumbled indignantly. “Sit down—here!” she shifted her spear into her left hand and tapped the other hand on the ground beside her, right against the tree trunk. Nopileos sat and put down the net, in which two gray-green lungfish floundered.
“Why the hurry, sister?”
“You have to learn, t’Nop. Twelve is just rising over the horizon. We don’t want to be discovered, do we?”
“Do not unceasingly call the creature t’Nop, noble Hatrak!” Zhi protested, forming a reprimanding gesture.
“Ha, old man, I’ll call the saurian whatever I please!”
The adolescent threw her head back boldly. No other youth in the village was allowed to take such a rude response to a warrior, but Zhi had expected nothing else. He snorted indignantly and looked away. Hatrak picked up the hand net that Nopileos had dropped between the tree roots. She looked at the two finned breathers with a contented gaze. The animals could survive out of the water for up to a wozura if you occasionally wet their skin. This way they remained enjoyable for a long time. The Teladi had an astonishing skill for catching these big fish,which had no natural predators in the island interior’s ponds. Maybe he only caught them living because he was too cowardly to kill them. But it was the same to her.
“About how many of the Patriarch’s surveillance satellites are there?” Nopileos asked.
“That does not matter to the creature,” Zhi hissed. His eyes sparkled.
“But Zhi,” Hatrack placated. “If he is to live among us, then he must know about the satellite information!”
“Why? In six wozuras he’ll die on the torture rock anyway. I say, lock him up until then!”
Hatrak made a sour face. She set aside the hand net and short spear and took Nopileos’s left claw in her hand, which caused a surprise. “Oh, you only have five fingers like the Argon, not six like us!” the girl exclaimed in excitement. “Hmmm… all right, look here, t’Nop!”
Nopileos spread his claws and docilely pulled his hand from Hatrak to upward, until the sun’s disc became green through his rudimentary swimming webs. The ancient warrior Zhi t’Nnt watched this ritual suspiciously.
“Like that, and now put your thumb around. No, the other… no, I mean… t’Nop!” Mock outraged giggling. “Tell me, don’t you know what a thumb is?” Nopileos hastened to say that he knew and curved his thumb. Somehow, Hatrak’s cool, soft skin felt pleasant on the thin scales on the back of his hand. It tickled a bit and the touch did him good. But what was she doing? The middle finger was pressed down, then Hatrak tried to turn Nopileos’s palm inwards. He offered playful resistance.
“Turn it over! Or I’ll cut it off and sew it back on the other way around!” Nopileos obeyed.
“Okay then! So you know what that means?” the girl asked. “These two fingers mean seven,” she continued when Nopileos didn’t answer but instead wiggled his tiny ears. “and those mean twelve. Well,” she said in a critical tone, “you’re missing a finger, the twelve looks weird, but if you had a sixth finger, you’d have to bend it at the first joint anyway. See?”
Nopileos saw, but didn’t understand. He turned his palm back and forth with the two folded fingers in the sunlight. Slowly it dawned on him that the girl had given him a lesson in the sign language of the Split.
“Every seventh stazura after the zenith, and every twelfth after the nadir of the moon Woltrar, that’s the little one, listen, the two reconnaissance satellites soar over the horizon. There are more, but only these two can get direct glimpse of Ghus-tan for six mizuras. We call them… what do you think we call them?” Black saucer eyes snapped toward the Teladi.
“Seven and Twelve, oh colleague Hatrak?”
The girl clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Look, Zhi, t’Nop is not incredibly stupid!”
The other Split growled gruffly at her address. “But without arms and legs, the creature will soon look stupid. And now let’s return to the village. They are waiting for us.
Hatrak signaled her approval and rose gracefully. “And remember that sign well, t’Nop,” she concluded. The unusually serious undertone in her voice made Nopileos sit up and take notice. “It also means ‘protect me.’”
Another wozura passed. Hatrak took great pleasure in gradually teaching Nopileos the sign language of their people. It surprised her how inquisitive the Teladi was and how quickly he learned. Of course, that also meant that t’Nop would not have to face the beasts of Heaven silently when his day came. She was especially happy about that; a Teladi would face off against the beasts in the realm of the dead! Forehead off, to be precise. Hatrak chuckled; Zhi t’Nnt’s gloomy looks amused her. The old warrior seemed slow to accept that his restrainer and the Teladi creature understood each other so insubordinately well.
They sat back in their favorite spot under the tree by the lake, engrossed by a sign language lesson, under the disdainful observation of Zhi, who was crouching alone a few paces away under another drop-leaf tree. Then it happened: first Nopileos’s sensitive Teladi ears spun, then Zhi and Hatrak also heard it. The girl stopped in mid-sentence and jumped up. Excited calls sounded through the thicket, muffled by the distance. At almost the same time a menacing whistle and screech rolled through the undergrowth, drowning out the voices. Nopileos was startled. An engine noise, just like the one he’d heard two wozuras ago in the mainland jungle! After a sezura of shock, Zhi t’Nnt wordlessly grabbed Nopileos’s arm and quickly pulled the Teladi onto his claws and behind him as he went into a quick trot. Despite her shorter legs, Hatrak effortlessly overtook him. “The village!” she cried. “Have we been discovered?”
From the place in the forest where the palisade fence widened and the clay path changed into broad paving stones, the bright shimmer of a jet which had landed against the torture rock could already be seen. As Zhi, Nopileos, and the girl appreached, the saw that the scout’s cockpit was open; a Split with a black helmet and protected by leather combat gear crouched before the surroundings. In his hands he held a beam weapon, whose laser sight wandered around, dancing a bright spot over houses, trees, and grass.
“Cover,” Zhi called softly to Hatrak. The girl obeyed, pressing herself close against a protrusion in the fence. Zhi pushed Nopileos behind the first wooden house past the entrance, not losing sight of him for even a sezura.
The armed split in the leather gear straightened up slowly. Only now Nopileos noticed two motionless bodies laying a few lengths away from him in the red grass, thin stands of smoke rising from them. That must’ve been the day watch; they had no chance against an attacker with an energy weapon and an active shield. Nopileos’s forehead ridges became bright.
“What do you want?” rang the clear voice of Rhonkar across the clearing. Nopileos discovered the head of the Family in front of the entrance to the community.
“In principle I owe him no answer. But I’ll tell him nevertheless: I’m here to destroy and burn down this miserable settlement; every man, every woman, every child! After that I’ll report to my Patriarch. He will richly reward me!”
Nopileos couldn’t believe his eyes when he suddenly saw Hatrak leave her cover on the other side of the village entrance. She had packed her short spear and was sneaking along the fence inside the village square. What did the girl intend to do? Zhi t’Nnt also noticed it now. Breathlessly, the warrior stared after Hatrak and neglected Nopileos for a moment. The Teladi spotted the opportunity and jumped out from behind the log cabin. After ten, twenty hasty, waddled steps, he crossed the wide path that formed the entrance to the village; his hearts were throbbing with fear. Something glowing hot hissed over his head and drove black shadows across his retinas; someone shot at him! A second shot cracked; Rhonkar, Zhi, and Hatrak were shouting, but he paid no attention. He reached the surprised girl and shoved her violently from her feet, brutally pressing her head into the grass. Not a sezura too soon: a third shot snapped and the palisade fence behind Hatrak and Nopileos bega
n to burn at head-height.
“t’Nop, what are you doing?” Hatrak screamed. She was strong and would free herself from the Teladi’s grip at any moment. Expecting another shot, Nopileos raised his head; the shot came, but it did not hit him. Instead a warrior with a spear raised for throwing silently collapsed, pierced by a blinding energy bolt.
Another spearman—Nopileos breathlessly recognized Thro, the Supreme Warrior—managed to get his projectile on its way and duck under a lighting bolt just in time. The spear crossed a dozen lengths and hit its target perfectly. The pilot’s personal energy shield activated and fended off the metal tip of the projectile, the wooden shaft, however, slammed into the beam weapon with great force, which clattered on the ground with a dull sound. Thro was immediately on his feet again and instantly over the pilot. A knife jerked open, penetrating the energy shield in slow motion. Brown blood flowed, and Thro stood up triumphantly.
Hatrak finally freed herself from Nopileos’s grip. “I don’t know if I should thank you, t’Nop,” she said hoarsely. She glared at him, hungry for a fight, appearing in no way impressed by the events and the fallen. “But maybe I’ll simply rip your head off first and then thank you.”
Nopileos carefully smoothed out the metal foil package, that had contained the delicious maya bean pudding he had just devoured, and laid them neatly on the small pile of silver foil that had stacked up to his right in the last half of the inzura. He looked at the dark wooden beams that made up the walls, lost in thought for a while, and started to lie down when the door was unlocked with a loud rattle, and someone stepped into the small room with a flickering animal fat lamp. Before his eyes got used to the glare of the light, he recognized Hatrak’s bright voice.
“Hello, Teladi creature t’Nop-lizard!” she said cheerfully. “I came to gnaw your leg off. I’m hungry!”
“Good evening, oh Sister! The right or the left?” Nopileos answered calmly.
“Hmm… don’t know. The right?”
Nopileos ostentatiously stuck his right clawed foot forward and opened his eyes wide. Hatrak chuckled hoarsely. “Teladi probably taste really bad,” she said. “Besides, you have to beak up the protein chains chemically, otherwise the meat is poisonous for Split. Thro says.”
“And what does that mean?”
“No idea, t’Nop, and I don’t care! I’m looking forward to seeing you on the torture rock!”
“Tshhh!” Nopileos snorted indignantly. “That’s not nice of you!”
Hoarse croaking. “Who ever heard of a nice Split?”
Nopileos had to admit that this argument wasn’t lacking a certain validity. “That’s right!” he said.”You’re not still mad at me, are you, Hatrak?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject.
The Split girl looked at him questioningly. “Because of last wozura, you mean?” She became serious. “I’m not angry. You saved me from a stupidity that could have cost me my life. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, you hear?”
“I’m a threat for Ghus-tan, Hatrak, and you know it. You should let me go.”
Now the girl laughed again. “Sure, t’Nop-lizard! And even better with an escort to protect you from the ghoks, eh?”
“I wouldn’t say no to that.”
“Ha. No! In principle it’s good that the Patriarch of Chin has finally come to notice us. Rhonkar, my father, is undoubtedly a brave man, but he tends to plan out everything too long and too precisely.
“Like my species…”
At that sentence, Hatrak threw herself on the surprised Teladi and put her knee against his armored throat. “Never, ever say that again! The creature has it all wrong!”
“Hai, hai!” Nopileos gasped. Hatrak let go of him and calmed down immediately.
“We are prepared,” she said. “We speak the language you used to draw the word of war over the sky. I want to show you something, t’Nop. Come with me.”
Zhi t’Nnt, who was waiting in front of the hut, growled furiously as Hatrak came out with Nopileos. He formed a gesture that Nopileos recognized as belonging to the group of signs of adversity. “Do you have to let the creature out now, noble Hatrak? Our preparations are none of her business. Her innards will be spread out on the torture rock in less than four wozuras!”
“They will, Zhi,” Hatrak grinned and carefully closed the door of the log cabin. “And they will bring us luck in our campaign against Chin!”
“So put him back in the cabin,” Zhi demanded.
“Hatrak sighed. “You do not understand, old man. I want t’Nop to be prepared when he dies, to be at peace with himself, to face the beasts with a clear conscience.”
Zhi shook his head, but bit back any further reply. Hatrak grabbed Nopileos’s claw and pulled the confused Teladi behind her. In a small clearing outside the village, on the southwestern tip of the island, she stopped. Here they had placed the looted jet of the Patriarch, made its electronics harmless, and disguised it. Astonished, Nopileos realized that it was a training camp; the warriors of the village trained to use a weapon he had never seen before in Ghus-tan. Supreme Warrior Thro came over when he saw Hatrak, greeted her with a wave of his hand, and handed her a long, thin wooden staff as well as a handful of sharp wood splinters the length of a claw.
“You put this in here!” Hatrak stuck one of the wooden shards, which had thin feathers in the back, into the wooden staff. She took a deep breath, put the end of the stick to her mouth, sighted a tree nearby, and blue into the wooden pipe with all her might. It clacked, and the wooden arrow was sunk halfway into the tree Hatrak had aimed at.
“Tsh! A blowgun!” Nopileos realized, surprised. He had once read about it in an Argon book; his people had never built blowguns because the couldn’t use them for physiological reasons.
Hatrak beamed proudly. “My idea! Right, Thro?” The Supreme Warrior nodded. “And because the arrows are made of wood, they also penetrate through energy screens!” Hatrak continued. “What do you say, t’Nop?”
“I do not like weapons, Hatrak, of any kind. And what can blowguns do against spacecraft?”
“Stupid lizard!” Hatrak scolded, and handed the weapon back to Thro. “You’ll soon see, we’ll drop one man after another, until Nif-Nakh belongs to us, and Rhonkar—”
“That’s enough! Let’s go!” Zhi interrupted the girl in a tone that did not tolerate any contradiction. Amazingly, Hatrak complied at once.
“Well. Hey, t’Nop, tell me, what does this gesture mean?”
But Nopileos followed along with Hatrak’s game with no more than half his attention, and so received a whole series of blows to the head and kicks until he sat again in the darkness of his cell and the door closed behind him. As sweet as he thought Hatrak was, she was also—and remained—a mystery to him.
Chapter 17
If history teaches anything, it is this: there is no failure. Whosoever believes in their cause with their whole heart will always win, even if they do not attain their primary goal on their first attempt.
Carta Frends,
Argon historian, 172-214
Senator Nan Gunnar sat behind his study’s sweeping gahamoni desk, his face buried in his hands. He made small, circular movements over his eyelids with his index fingers. “My Go… my goodness, Major Kho! Name one reason why I should support your request! With all due respect to your origin, sector Earth and so on, but now I’m sorry to have listened to you.”
“I can even give you three reasons, Senator.”
“So let me summarize once more, Major Kho,” the senator said in a huff. “You want us to release Ghinn t’Whht from protective custody, so that you can use her—in a civilian spaceship—in the name of Argon Prime to return her to the Patriarch of the Split. And once on Nif-Nakh, you want to quietly and secretly comb the jungle for the wreck of the CEO’s yacht.”
Gunnar reminded Elena of Admiral Morrison, her direct supervisor in the USC on Earth. Morrison was short, hectic, bald, and had no appreciable sense of humor. Gunnar, on the other hand, at
least had a penchant for cynicism. “Hai, that’s correct, Senator. But you can’t forget that—”
“Can’t forget!” Gunnar jumped up. “Sobert!” He pressed a button to summon his adjutant. “That your valued colleague and fellow earthling Brennan would disappear into the New Sectors along with the AP Telstar, I nearly expected. I’ll tell you what you can forget. Sobert!” The door opened and Brend Sobert entered. “Forget it!” the senator shouted to the perplex Elena, before he turned to his adjutant. “Danna is here today, right? I need him. Immediately.”
Elena was shocked. “Just a moment, Senator—Brennan is missing?”
“Major, as you know, the New Sectors are not yet connected to the messaging system. I do not know if Brennan is missing. In any case, he’s been overdue for a wozura. Every day I have his, his, well, that blond Goner on my screen!”
“Ninu Gardna,” Elena suggested, “his fiancée.” She wasn’t surprised. Brennan apparently had nothing else in mind than making those who trusted him unhappy. In three wozuras he would reappear carefree and be amazed at all the excitement.
“Yes, yes. Exactly the one!” the senator agreed. “You know, she’s pretty to look at, but she gets on my last nerve. And on the next video screen, I get to keep Senator Steen-Hilmarson, who is standing on my neck because of your damned M4/Buster!” Beads of sweat glistened on the forehead of the corpulent Argon. “Do you know what a thing like that is worth?”
Elena would have liked to have answered “As much as a corrugated steel drum with a crank mechanism,” but it would be tactically unwise to deliberately annoy the senator. Nopileos needed her help! She would take care of Kyle later, especially since Brennan was a man who generally knew how to take care of himself.
There was another argument that Elena assumed the senator would not take lightly. “Senator, according to the laws of the Argon Federation and the Community of Planets, Ghinn t’Whht is a free person. If she decides to return to Nif-Nakh, you cannot deny her that.”
Nopileos: A novel from the X-Universe: (X4: Foundations Edition 2018) (X Series) Page 14
