The Fifth Civilization: A Novel (34 page)

David and
Nikrun
led the warrior party to the caves of the white cliffs. Heading into the maw of
one of the larger caves, Two Mountains narrowed his eyes and paid attention to
his senses. The two creatures leading him could be springing a trap. His
reflexes were on alert as he slid down the entrance, gripping his spear and
ready hurl it at any danger. When he reached the bottom, hearing voices, he
quickly whirled around and allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim light. What
amazed him was that most of the light came not from the sun or a fire, but small
objects in the room that illuminated the other inhabitants.

Staring at him, eyes as big as the moons and shivering, were
several more of the creatures. Two were like
Nikrun
, except one had longer hair, and breasts, and the other had
darker skin and strange white cloth on his head. The others were unlike any of
them—fat, and the color of leaves, with faces that resembled creatures
Two Mountains sometimes found in the river. It was a most exotic bunch.

Would God have sent emissaries so strange? Were they from
God?

David and
Nikrun
were saying something to the other creatures. Two Mountains figured he was
trying to calm them. After all, he must have been an outsider to them—but
no, Two Mountains thought, he couldn’t be.
He
looked normal, while these people did not.

After some time, while Two Mountains admired the strange
objects these people carried with them—including candle-like rocks that
glowed in the dark—David walked over to Two Mountains. He made a circle
with his arms, which the warrior took to indicate all present, and made a
motion from the sky. So, the theories were true. They all had come from the sky
and were neither from another nation nor from across the Great Lake.

Then what was their purpose? Two Mountains asked this aloud,
but couldn’t get a response. He called back to the mouth of the cave for
another warrior to come down.

***

The native said something, but no one could understand it.
Roan figured that type of communications gap was going to be the norm.

“Are they hostile?” Duvurn asked, backing up into a corner
of a cave. His bodyguard did the same, evidently abandoning his training as a
brave protector. “Please don’t tell me they eat people like us.”

“I don’t know,” David said, and this didn’t seem to assuage the
Prince. Duvurn cried out again when another warrior slid down the cave
entrance, next to the native chief. The newcomer’s expression changed from a
stern alertness to wide-eyed wonder. All the technology and biology on display
here was certainly both terrifying and magical to them.

“Did you catch his name?” Moira asked, somewhat
sarcastically. The doctor looked alert, however, as she sat with her knees
locked in front by her hands. Roan believed she was trying to make herself as
small a target as possible.

“No, but I’ve decided to call him ‘Chief,’ ” Roan said.

David muttered a caveat. “Actually, if I understood his
introduction right, his name was more like—”

“Chief seems like a smart guy,” Roan interrupted. “He didn’t
kill us right away, and he got the idea that we were from the sky. That means
he saw us crash or saw what happened to the
Colobus
in orbit. Hopefully we can learn some rudimentary words in their language
and be conversing in no time.”

“Do they believe we’re some kind of gods?” Sundar asked.

“Possibly. What do you think, David?”

“Yes, Nick, possibly. Or messengers from the gods. Such
things have been known to happen with the pre-industrial cultures of the Four
Civilizations, at least initially. We will not know until we learn more about
their language and society, which will take long, I’m afraid.”

Chief and his friend were done conversing, and regarded the
group for a long second. The look they gave was slightly scornful one, but its
interpretation could either be “These people are not gods!” to “These people
would make a great dinner!”
 
Both
were flattering, if Roan had to choose he hoped for the former.

Then, Chief strutted over to David and pointed at the
ceiling. Above David, on one of the curved walls of the cave, were paintings of
birds and animals and great hunts. At first, Roan thought Chief was asking if
they were the fulfillment of some prophecy in the walls, but after much
gesticulation between David and Chief, David began nodding, and appeared to
understand what was being asked. Roan was still clueless. The Nyden suddenly
had his head light up in jubilation.

“Drawings, everyone! They want us to draw where we came
from, and our purpose from being here, in this land.”

“How can you tell?”

“If I am interpreting what this native—er, Chief, is
saying correctly, he needs some sort of representation of our purpose. They
understand paintings, Nick Roan! They understand two-dimensionality. Now all we
need is some material. What do we have?”

“Er…blood?”

“Bits of food?” Moira suggested.

“Not the food…” Duvurn groaned.

“Tomato paste!” Sundar cried, and pulled it out of a bag.
“There was some in the ration bag, believe it or not.”

“That should be perfect,” David said, and grabbed it. He
seemed more excited than Roan had ever seen him, almost giddy at the prospect
of explaining their mysterious origins. Obviously, making first contact with
natives was a lifelong dream of his. “Can anyone else draw?” David asked.

There was resounding silence.

“I will try my best then,” David said, and unscrewed the jar
off the paste to begin his masterpiece.

***

Faster than expected, David imparted on the walls what Two
Mountains requested of him. Using some strange liquid, which stuck itself to
the wall, his fingers depicted the two peaks that stood nearby—the same
peaks, Two Mountains thought excitedly, which bore his name. David sketched a
small but remarkably accurate representation of a tree, which Two Mountains
knew was not representative of its actual size and what he also knew
represented the ground. The space above, then, must have been the sky.

Interestingly, David made a curved line over the mountain,
which Two Mountains thought might have been a river. But he drew a
five-point-figure above the line, resembling a star—was he trying to show
where the stars were? Was he saying the stars were above a river in the sky, or
was it some kind of barrier? When David drew a line in the shape of a wicker
box, Two Mountains tried in vain to understand. Were they from a box in the
sky? Was this their home, in the sky? Two Mountains pointed at the box.

“What does this mean?” he asked, knowing it would only
elicit a reply in nonsense. It did, and Two Mountains resigned himself to frustration.
How could they communicate without knowing each other’s language? This was even
worse than talking with a member of the Gohorma tribe.

David recognized this wasn’t working, so he dipped his hand
in the paste and managed to get most of it on his fingers. Two Mountains
watched him as he made the curved line a circle over the entire landscape he’d
drawn. He gestured to the circle, indicating its entirety, then motioned to
their surroundings. Two Mountains assumed he wasn’t talking about the cave, and
instead meant the land surrounding them. Did the circle represent their current
location? David went to another wall of a cave, drew another circle, then
gestured to the group of strange creatures seated around the cave. He pointed
to the new circle. From there, he drew a line to the box above the twin
mountains.

If Two Mountains understood the drawing, these strange creatures
came from one circle, then appeared in the sky, then fell to this land. “This
is all very strange,” he said to the warrior kneeling next to him studying the
drawings. It was obvious that he didn’t comprehend them well, either. Two
Mountains wondered if he could use his abilities to try and impart on these
visitors the massacre that had befallen them—clearly, they were not from
those evil ones that had attacked them in the woods.

***

“Do you think they get it?” Roan asked.

“Possibly,” David said. “There’s no way to tell until we
learn their language.” Chief reached into his knapsack and pulled out an
arrowhead. He ran the tip over his fingers and pricked it, indicating it was
sharp. Then he began to run it across the wall, creating a line.

***

By the end of an hour, the wall bled with colors. A little
bit of understanding had blossomed.

 
Two Mountains
believed that David and
Nikrun
had
come from a circle in the sky to Hedda, which they had also depicted using a
circle. From his memory, Two Mountains sketched a crude long-tailed creature of
the kind that killed his men, who were represented by stick figures. A jagged
lightning bolt drawn from the evil creatures drew excited reactions from David,
as he pointed and conversed with
Nikrun
.
Even the other creatures seemed to know what was being said.

“Kotarans,” David said.

“Kotarans, Kotarans,”
Nikrun
said, pointing to the lightning bolt. Two Mountains pointed to the rough figure
he drew, and in unison most of the creatures repeated the word “Kotarans.”

“Kotarans.” Two Mountains repeated, slowly. Those were the
name of the evil creatures they had encountered. Already he hated the harsh
sound of it.

***

A squawk came over Grinek’s com. “Commander, we’ve found
something.”

“What is it, Roh?”

“About a kilometer and a half from the site of the ambush,
our terrain mappers pinpointed a network of caves. From the air we can’t see
anything, but they’re the only logical shelter nearby, and they’re within
walking distance of the crashed shuttle. The freighter survivors may be inside
the caves.”

“Why didn’t you see the caves earlier?”

“We hadn’t thoroughly scanned the area, Commander. But we
have now. I want to recommend I take a party and wipe them out.”

“Do it. If we find some trace of the Earthmen or natives in
the caves we’ll know they’re using them. But be cautious about it, Roh—throw
some grenades in first.”

“Yes, Commander.”

***

Those in the cave heard the hum of the ship, which frightened
the two natives and made them crouch low. They looked around for the strange
noise, then moved up the angled opening to peer out the cave. Roan touched
Chief and shooed him back.

“Bad, bad,” he repeated, as if talking to a child to
discourage him. Chief, however, stopped from what he was doing and didn’t
expose himself from the cave.

“Kotarans,” Roan repeated, then put his finger to his lips
and shushed them. If the Kotaran ship had spotted them, they’d be done for with
a few cannon strikes. That they had not yet been obliterated indicated the
noise could be just be a scout ship. Some Kotaran ships were known to carry
smaller vessels and they should hope it was one of those. Roan kicked the side
of the wall, condemning himself for foolishly staying in these caves. They
should’ve moved into the forest long ago, away from the shuttle crash site.

“That’s them. Do you think they know we’re here?” Duvurn
asked.

“I don’t know,” Roan said. “Probably.”
 
Grabbing the binoculars, he crawled out
to the very edge of the cave entrance, trying hard to stay in the shadows. He
was able to see a craft—a boxy one resembling a human
freighter—make a pass above the cave and land just overhead, causing the
walls to rumble and sending dust and rocks into the cavern. The Kotarans had
landed on the tops of the cliff face, and if they didn’t want to blow them up,
they were going to come down here and try and smoke them out.

“They landed above us,” Roan said, for the benefit and
horror of all. He slid back into the cave. On the ground was the rifle, the
only source of weaponry they had. Roan knew it was well-charged, and he hoped
it would last for a little while. He picked it up, and it gained the admiration
of the natives, who no doubt had seen its power and were excited to see it in
action on
their
side.

“We have to leave here,” Moira said, gathering her shoes and
a medical bag. “It’s the only way we’ll survive.”

“No,” Roan said, harshly. “Now is the time we fight.”

They had to be quick about a plan. The constant rumbling
above them stopped and was replaced with the distant thumps of the boots of
soldiers. How the Kotarans were going to climb from the top of the cliff to the
caves was anyone’s guess. Doubtless they’d found a passage and were now
marching to kill the humans. After a brief conference, conducted with
pantomime, Roan sent Chief and his warrior friend back outside. They and the
rest of the natives scampered into an adjacent cave. The Kotarans wouldn’t
expect both sides to be allied, so fortunately they had the element of surprise
on their side. But Roan knew surprise was nothing if you were far outgunned and
outnumbered.

Rocks and dirt fell from the cave walls as the Kotaran boots
pounded closer. After a few minutes, Roan could hear the far-away voices of
Kotarans speaking a language he had no hope of knowing. Duvurn, his bodyguard,
Sundar, and Moira hid themselves in the dark recesses of the cave. David
crouched near the entrance, watching with his excellent eyes. And Roan squinted
in the sunlight of the cave, aiming his weapon at the entrance, waiting for the
first Kotaran to come in his line of sight.

An explosion. The cave shook, more rocks fell, and there
were muffled screams and coughing with the civilians behind Roan. He knew that
no one was seriously hurt, so he didn’t look back, instead keeping aim at the
door. The Kotarans had blown up a nearby cave to draw them out.

More voices. Roan imagined what they were saying: someone
reporting that they hadn’t found anything in the cave, and they should move on.

Another explosion. No one was prepared for this one, either,
and it apparently happened in the cave next door. Rocks tumbled in their cave,
and Roan prayed the entrance wouldn’t collapse, but a few larger rocks came loose
from the ceiling. They tumbled down into the cave like marbles down a staircase
Above, more voices spoke, sounding like they came from just outside the cave.
Nothing here, move on to the next one
,
Roan imagined the voices saying.

Footsteps were distinct. The Kotaran language was now
crystal clear. Silhouetted by sunlight, the shape of two Kotarans appeared at
the cave entrance, holding the recognizable shape of rifles in their hands.
Words were exchanged, and a Kotaran reached for something on his body.

Roan fired.

His first shot felled the Kotaran on the right and his
second the one on the left. Cries and shouts came from outside the cave. Roan
fired again, hoping his shots would prevent any more Kotarans from sticking
their head in the cave. But he knew he could only hold so long.

“Everyone, hunker down in the corner, now!”
 
Something bad was coming soon. Despite
not knowing what “hunker down,” meant, David and the Bauxens huddled with the
humans against one of the walls of the cave. Roan continued his firing,
singeing the sky outside, his faith in the battery pack concrete. Any second
now he expected a grenade and the end.

Luckily, the cross-cultural communication of both he and
David manifested itself dramatically. A set of arrows, silhouetted by the
sunlight, shot past the entrance of the cave. More shouting could be heard, but
it wasn’t just Kotarans this time—it was the war cry of the natives, a
shrill call, echoing in the cave, more akin to a hawk flying overheard than
anything else. Flashes of energy fire mixed with the frantic feet of soldiers.
There was an explosion. A close one. It rattled the walls of the cave and was
likely another grenade. But the war cry came again, and another round of energy
bolts, and that only indicated the Kotarans were having a hard time killing
these warriors.

Gripping the rifle, Roan ran up the slanted entrance of the
cave and into the fray. He hoped the warriors’ arrows didn’t find his back. Two
Kotaran corpses lay at the entrance, burnt holes in their chests. He put his
back to the cliff wall and scanned around with this rifle. The Kotaran soldiers
had moved up to the cliff ledge above him and were volleying shots to the cave
that served as the natives’ position. Roan exposed himself just enough to get a
bead on one. He pulled the trigger. A burst hit a Kotaran in the chest and
without a scream his body careened off the ledge, just like in the Western
holofilms.

As swiftly as the violence started, it ended. Birds in the
trees wailed at the sound of the commotion. Roan hugged the wall and ran to the
start of the ledge that ran above the caves. Every few feet he darted a glance
above and behind him, in case a Kotaran sniper was tracking him. He passed the
two caves obliterated by the invaders. When he reached the second ledge, he saw
two Kotarans and raised his rifle in defense. But while both were upright and
leaning against the wall, both had multiple arrows in their chests. Their
rifles lay dropped at their feet. In the ferocity of the torrent of arrows,
their bodies had been propped up by the cliff face.

The killing wasn’t over, Roan knew.

Across the cliff face, in a cave entrance opposite the
ledge, a group of natives emerged with their bows drawn. They scanned the
cliff. Roan saw Chief among them, and was glad he survived. It would’ve been a
nightmare to teach a new warrior what they’d discussed. The natives, on alert,
nimbly walked over to the two dead Kotarans at the cliff entrance. Roan found
his way back down the ledge and joined them in their examination of the
otherworldly corpses.

“Scary beasts, aren’t they?” Roan asked, receiving no
answer. Chief bent down over the fallen Kotarans and ran his fingers over the
body. When he reached the head, he grabbed the snout and examined the soldier’s
teeth like a dentist. Other warriors crowded around this spectacle. They
murmured and bared their fangs as they gawked at the dead creatures, tugging at
their ears and tails.

He wasn’t convinced the threat had passed. At least, he knew
that more than five soldiers could fit in a scout ship. There were probably
more on top of the cliff, out of sight—and they knew what happened. Roan
craned his neck to the top of the cliffs, but couldn’t see any movement up
there, nor did he hear any bootsteps. They were hiding, wherever they were.

“We need to get out of here,” Roan said, and tapped Chief on
the soldier. He hoped Chief got the message when he pointed to the top of the
cliff. Impending doom was coming from above, and boy, was it angry. The natives
seemed to get his message and he followed Roan to the offworlder’s cave.

“All clear!” Roan called down. “But we’re going to have to
get out of here now. Head into the woods.”
 
The five survivors of the
Colobus
worked their way up the rock-strewn cave entrance and out into the sunlight, like
groundhogs emerging from a season of seclusion. Duvurn noticed the charred
walls of the nearby caves and gasped, while his bodyguard cowered behind him in
terror. Those two were such a pitiful sight. It was a wonder they’d managed to
make it on the shuttle to escape.

“Anyone hurt?” Moira asked. She was staring at the corpses
of the Kotarans, but Roan didn’t know if he’d let her treat them, even if they
were alive. You don’t help your enemy when you’re on the run.

“I’d ask Chief, but he doesn’t seem to be in the talkative
mood. If they have wounded, we’ll know soon—but right now I want to get
us all under the cover of those…” He stopped, then looked back up at the cliff.
Why worry about hiding and transportation when there was a ship parked on top
of that cliff? He hadn’t heard a rumble of a takeoff. If the Kotarans made
their way down, then surely their group could make their way up and take the
fight to them. The kangas were going to find they were brimming with surprises.

“Take this com.” He pulled one out of his pocket and gave it
to David. He and Moira were the only ones he could trust with such a thing,
anyway. “Get back in the cave. Here, take this rifle.”

 
Roan handed the
Bauxen rifle to David, who just waved his hands when Roan offered the gun. He
then offered it to Moira, who said she’d never used one in her life. Roan
finally motioned for Sundar to take it, but he said he was forbidden from
firing one. Religion, you know.

“Doesn’t anyone here approve of killing?” Roan asked. He had
no choice but to hand it to Duvurn’s bodyguard. “You better use that thing
wisely,” Roan said to the alien, who spoke no English.

A Kotaran rifle lay on the ground next to one of the fallen
beasts. Roan picked it up and checked the charge bar on the side, which
indicated that it was nearly full. That weapon was military grade, anyway, and
much better-made than the Bauxen one. It was going to serve him well.

With a wave, Roan called for the natives to follow him. They
spoke among themselves, briefly, then followed Roan up the ledges and paths of
the cliff face. One of the natives reached down and picked up the other
Kotaran’s rifle, examining what he no doubt considered an intriguing firestick.

***

“Commander, we’ve been attacked by the Earthmen.”

“What? Roh, what’s going on there?”

“They were in the caves, as we thought. My party is not
responding.”

“Can you see them?”

“The Earthmen are on the bottom of the cliff, hiding in the
caves. We cannot see them from here.”

“Godsdamn it. Why weren’t you on the hunt? I trusted your
ability in dispatching these Earthmen!”

“Fox’Lo curse me, Commander. I was monitoring progress here.
It was a mistake.”

“Kill them, you hear me? Specialist, if you fail me, there’s
no one else I can count on to do this job. And if you kill them you will be
rewarded greatly in this life, I swear it.”

“Yes, Commander.”

***

Nikrun
was mad as a
kegar
, climbing up the ledges and
faces of the white cliffs, making sure to hold his lightning club in front of
him. Though Two Mountains had absolutely no idea what the man thought was on
top of the cliffs, he knew it was dangerous, otherwise he would not have asked
the warriors to come along. The warrior leader did not look down the cliff face
lest it give him fear; he was already fearful enough of these strange creatures
to let heights scare him.

They were close to the top. Muffled voices could be heard
from above the edge of the summit, and
Nikrun
went to the ground, hiding behind a bunch of boulders. Two Mountains crouched
as well, his warriors following his example. They all bunched behind the
boulders. Danger was very close now.

They were on a ledge just below the cliff top, which had
branches and roots sticking over the side, bunched up and coiled. The roots
didn’t appear green or healthy, which indicated that the soil on top was long
devoid of any plant life. Such a place was symbolic of the death that these
invaders had brought, Two Mountains considered. Ahead,
Nikrun
pointed at Two Mountains and motioned for him to come over.
He’d been observing something just beyond the boulder and Two Mountains guessed
he wanted him to see it to.

Two Mountains quietly crawled to him. He peered over the
boulder, wary of what he would see.

Some strange and very large enclosure had been constructed
on the top of the cliff. Two Mountains wondered if it was the source of the
noise he had heard earlier in the caves—the enclosure looked like several
sharp-edged huts thrown together, but the material was of a kind he had never
seen. What looked like smoke came off from underneath it, and what looked like two
large tree trunks stuck out from its sides.

 
Two Mountains
wondered if the enclosure was actually a creature. Perhaps it was a giant bird,
like the one they had seen during the night. The smooth, shiny surface of the
side, reflective like water, could be skin.

“In the name of God, what is that?” Two Mountains whispered.
Not understanding,
Nikrun
didn’t
reply. He only grabbed Two Mountains by his fur and moved him away. For a brief
second, Two Mountains saw why: the shape of what the outlanders called a
Kotaran
appeared from behind the weird
enclosure.

Nikrun
said
something that was not understandable. But his motions were. The pale man held
up his lightning club and pressed on the side. The club gave a high-pitched
noise and light shown on the instrument.
Nikrun
moved his mouth into an upward position, and moved his head up and down. This
was the gesture of affirmation to these people, or so Two Mountains had
gathered.

He knew what
Nikrun
signaled. It was time for an attack.

***

Roan moved the rifle behind the boulder, found a Kotaran, and
fired. Simultaneously, he heard the war cry of the natives behind them as they
unleashed arrows in an arc above the boulders. But they couldn’t stay here long
or the Kotarans would pulverize them. Roan charged out from the boulder,
heading to an outcropping of rock on the opposite side of the cliff that could
provide cover. He prayed the natives followed his lead. As he ran and hid
behind the outcropping, he drew the fire of several Kotarans, but he was too
fast and they missed.

He provided covering fire as the natives ran over to his
position. Bolts impacted the ship, striking and pinging against metal. The
Kotarans struggled for cover. Obviously, they hadn’t been expecting such an
ambush.
Yeah, we’re a little tough for a
bunch of humans, aren’t we?
Then Roan remembered the natives. They were
definitely not humans.

As long as the ship didn’t take off, they were safe. Roan
peeked behind a corner and let off a few more shots, giving him time to observe
the smoke under the craft. There wasn’t much of it, which indicated the ship
was probably idling. Right now its occupants were too busy fighting for their
lives to make off with it, and that was for the best. If Roan could capture
that ship, the balance of power would change ever so slightly.