Spanners - The Fountain of Youth (3 page)

Adam looked around again; they weren’t leaving him any option but to swim. He got up on the boat
’s edge, but before he jumped he turned around and spoke with them in Indonesian, thickening up his accent so as not to raise suspicion.

“
Be here one week from now
,” said Adam. “
I be here. You not pick me up, you not get bonus
.”

The crew was surprised that Adam spoke their language
, and he heard them chattering as he jumped into the moonlit water.

/***/

The currents battered Adam hard as he swam towards the island; he couldn’t swim too well, so it took him some time to get to shore. When he finally did, he sat down and rested, sopping wet.

I wish Mayfly was here helping me,
thought Adam.
Mayfly would have befriended the Indonesians, and they probably would have given us our own boat.

Adam saw a figure in the distance; it was an islander.

Mayfly would have charmed the Sentinelese too,
thought Adam.
If he were here, I wouldn’t have to do what I’m about to do.

Upon closer look, Adam noticed that it was a fisherwoman. She hadn’t noticed Adam yet and was throwing a basket into the water. She was short, with brown skin and tight curled hair. Adam went up slowly to her and put his hands out so
as not to surprise her.

“Hello,” he said.

The Sentinelese fisherwoman did a double take and then dropped her basket. She was frozen with fear, so Adam held his hands up higher to let her know he had no weapons. He smiled, but she didn’t return his smile. He grinned harder and then tried out his Sentinelese. He had no idea if it would work because he’d gained his knowledge of the language from Herodotus, a historian-class spanner who had visited these islands three hundred years ago.

“
My name is Adam Parr,”
he said.

“
Parr-uh,”
said the islander.
“DamPARR-uh.”

“
Yes,” he said. “I need to speak to your leader. The pale one.”

“
DamPARR-uh.”

“
Yes.”

Adam came one step nearer to her and she let out a small scream before running towards the interior of the island.

“Wait!” he said.

A few moments later he heard talk all around him, and the chatter was in deeper voices. He couldn’t make out what they were saying; the dialect hadn’t changed much over the centuries
, but they were speaking too fast. He sensed lights, and turned around to see that the interior of the island was covered with freshly lit campfires, sprouting up one by one.

“
I mean no harm!” shouted Adam into the darkness.

There was silence, and then a few moments later Adam saw a Sentinelese warrior peeking through the bushes. He looked to the left and right and saw that
two more men flanked the first man. Adam looked to the ocean; two more were coming in from the coast, and he was surrounded.

There are only five,
thought Adam,
but their strategy is sound. There’s no escape for me.

The lead warrior
approached Adam; he was wearing a metal conquistador helmet.

“
I mean you no harm,”
said Adam in the native language.
“I want to speak to your leader.”

The lead warrior let out a shriek and one of his compatriots threw a spear at Adam. It landed perfectly between his legs in the sand. Adam knew it was a warning shot, so he took the spear and held it in front of him, the sharp end sticking inwards. The warriors spoke amongst themselves some more, so Adam quickly threw the spear to the ground in front of him, and then put his hands in the air again. He spoke to the lead warrior once more.

“I mean you no harm,” said Adam. “I want to speak to the one who gave you that helmet.”

The lead warrior approached Adam steadily, growling some more commands to his warriors.

“I need to speak to your leader,” said Adam. “The one who gave you that helmet and—”

One more warrior threw a spear at Adam that went right by his head. They continued to encroach upon him, and Adam realized that he wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of this.
What I need to show them doesn’t take words,
thought Adam.
There’s only one way to get to their leader.

Adam smiled at them one last time,
lifted his arms parallel to the ground, and then opened his hands until his empty palms faced the men, as if he were on a cross. The lead warrior motioned to one of the younger compatriots to approach Adam. The young male approached cautiously, and the lead warrior yelled one more command at him. The young warrior threw his spear, and it landed in Adam’s leg. Adam screamed in agony, and after he fell to the ground he stifled his cries and got up on his knees. He held out his hands again and stared at the lead warrior. The man yelled and two more of his compatriots rushed at Adam and threw their spears. One grazed his side, and one went through his stomach. Adam was knocked back to the ground, but once again managed to stifle his yells. He got back up, sand mixing in with the blood of his open wound, and lifted his head to stare down the lead warrior once again.

The lead warrior approached Adam and kicked him to the ground. Adam was too weak to resist and fell backwards while the lead warrior straightened his metal helmet and raised his spear to the sky. He threw the spear down and it pierced Adam’s chest, tearing through his heart. Adam could feel his insides filling with blood, coughed some of it out and tried to talk, but couldn’t utter another word. Soon, all he knew was darkness.

/***/

Adam had a dream in his death state, which was rare. It wasn’t a full dream; it was merely images of Phoe and the emotions he felt each time she ran away. He felt sad that she had left him, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling; he enjoyed the intensity of emotion, even in the muted tones of thoughts dreamt while his heart wasn’t beating.

As his heart started to beat again and begin healing, Adam woke up to pain; he coughed up some blood before seizing and rolling over on his side. He hit the ground with a
thud
, and after a few moments, he realized what had happened. The Sentinelese had been transporting his body on a makeshift gurney when he turned over and fell to the ground.

One of them yelled
, and within moments they were pointing their spears at him again. Adam brushed himself off and felt his chest wound; it was still sore, but it had mostly healed. He was covered with blood, but opened his shirt to show the natives that the laceration was repairing itself right before their eyes. He then showed his leg wound. Adam brushed off the dried blood and showed that there was nothing there but unbroken skin.

The lead warrior was aghast. He took off his conquistador’s helmet and came close to Adam. Adam held up his hands to show that once again, he wasn’t a threat. The lead warrior nodded and then yelled at his fellow warriors, causing them to kneel in unison.

“Stand up,” said Adam. “Please—”

The warriors wouldn’t stand.

“You are a god,” said the lead warrior, before kneeling himself.

“
I’m not a god,” said Adam. “Stand up.”

“
You are a god!
” shrieked the lead warrior.

Adam looked at the kneeling warriors and knew he had to change his tone.

“
I’m not a god!
” yelled Adam, making the warriors flinch. “I’m not a god, and neither is your leader, Diego. Now take me to him.”

/***/

Adam had to command the warriors to walk with him. They wanted to walk behind him, in front of him or even carry him, but they didn’t want to walk
with
him. They only began to treat him as a normal person after he yelled at them to do so at the top of his lungs. Still, they kept their distance and refused to look him in the eye. The young warrior who had first stuck him with his spear now patrolled the front, eager to give his life to anything or anyone that might attack Adam.

Nothing’s going to take my life,
thought Adam.
Not here at least.

He and the small retinue of the warriors traveled overland and then in canoes over the bays
, and then through the small strips of ocean that connected the islands, often paddling through water shallow enough to walk across. They went on foot and through the ocean, from island to island, coming across no one and seeing nothing on the horizon. The warriors sang a slow song as they went forward; Adam could only understand a few of the words, but he gathered the song was about defending their island and keeping it from harm.

The world needs more pockets like this,
thought Adam.
Humanity doesn’t need another city.

They traversed the ocean a final time and headed to what seemed like the main island. The foliage was thicker
, and the Sentinelese had even made a canal through the middle of it. Adam knew it was Diego’s handiwork and shook his head.
Diego has brought enough of his knowledge to make himself comfortable,
thought Adam,
but not enough to make his people wonder if there’s a greater world beyond this small archipelago.

As they traveled through the center of the island, women came up to see them and immediately knelt in reverence. They commanded their children to do the same, and all but the youngest did so. The young ones stared at Adam wide-eyed and cried in horror as their mothers put a hand over their children’s mouths before bowing their heads again.

They traveled through the island, and Adam saw what appeared to be a rudimentary city lit by several campfires. The boat came to a stop at the shore and a hut was in front of him, only slightly larger than the rest. The warriors exited the boat in unison and then knelt on the shore for Adam.

“
Please wait,” said the lead warrior.

The lead warrior entered the hut and Adam heard an animated discussion inside. He heard the man inside yelling angrily, as if he had just woken up.

“Parr-uh,” said the warrior from inside the hut. “DamPARR-uh.”

“
DamPARR-uh?”
said the other voice.

“
Dam PARR-uh,” said the lead warrior. “Dam.”

“
Adam PARR-uh,” said the other man’s voice as he started to laugh. “Adam PARR-uh! Adam Parr!”

Diego burst out of the hut. He was disheveled, bearded, and at least 100 pounds overweight, but other t
han that he hadn’t aged a day since Adam saw him last.

“Adam Parr,” he said. “
What brings you around these parts?”

“I need to talk to you about your brother,” said Adam. “Juan Ponce de León. He’s up to something
, and I need to know what it is.”

“Juan isn’t up to anything,” said Diego. “I made sure that he’d never harm anyone again.”

“He’s back and fully recovered,” said Adam. “Five hundred years after you buried him alive.”

/***/

Two women brought in freshly caught fish and prepared them right in front of Adam. They cleaned their catch and put them in a basket and then basted the filets with coconut oil, salt and local fruits. They skewered the fish and then put them over the fire; the filets cooked in a matter of seconds. The women placed the meal on reeded mats and put them in front of a cross-legged Adam, Diego and a small mulatto child who appeared to be Diego’s son. From the child’s glowing eyes, the boy also appeared to be a spanner. Two men waved fans at Adam while he ate. The fish was some of the best he’d ever eaten, though he tried not to show it; he didn’t feel comfortable eating beside two men with fans.

“Does the Sentinelese obeisance bother you, Adam?” asked Diego.

“Yes,” said Adam. “We’re not gods.”

Diego laughed heartily at that and then started to cough. One of the women came up to him and rubbed his back; Diego soon recovered and waved her off with a smile. She went back to preparing some more fish. Diego pointed at Adam’s bloodied shirt and then
at Adam’s skin, which was flawless.

“You plucked a spear from your own heart, only to rise again,” said Diego. “What
are
you, if not a god?”

“Something else.”

“Something else, Adam? Like what?”

“I don’t know,” said Adam. “But we’re not gods. Spanners aren’t gods.”

Diego stared at Adam darkly, scratched his large belly with his thick fingers and then broke the silence with a small nod.

“Perhaps you’re right,” said D
iego. “Gods have agendas. The small gods of mythology were petty, perhaps, but they
acted
. Most spanners are content to hide in the shadows, whether their life lasts a day or …
eight thousand years.
”

Diego smiled at Adam, but Adam chose not to recognize the gesture.

“But let’s assume you’re correct, Adam—we’re
not gods,
” said Diego. “You still disapprove of my lifestyle?”