Chapter 11

***

The crew continued their trek with Chip and Henry. Allen remained mostly unconscious, and while his leg was less swollen since Chips treatment, his condition had only worsened. They had already traveled for two suns and were now in the chunk of a day without the moon, on their long journey to the only place they could think to go – home with Chip and Henry. Chip was in the pack's lead. “You see this here Henry, looks like someone might’ve cleared a path at some point, look! We weren’t the first ones here!” He gestured around for the humans, pointing left and right, down at the very clear path that led perpendicular to the one they were traveling.

“But how did we miss this on our way up? It’s so clear. How did this get here? It looks old..” Henry looked back and forth along the apparent trail they had just intersected. “Well, we can’t follow it now. Maybe we missed it, but still, I don’t know how. It looks like no one has traveled it for some time.”

Chip signaled to Phil that he needed to stop and draw, holding up his pen and gesturing at his journal, then giving a sweeping point at the new trail they discovered. Phil nodded to Chip as he commented to Adrienne and Darek, “Looks like this is something important. Let’s give them a minute.” Their communication had improved, they could understand each other well for basic things. Chip and Henry reviewed their maps, and Chip sketched the new path where they estimated it should be.

Phil sat down near Darek and the others and waited.

“Are you sure they know what they’re doing? I mean, I saw the maps and all but look at them. They look like they don’t know what’s going on.” Adrienne looked agitated as she said this.

“Do we know what’s going on? At least they’re from here, they probably know better even when they don’t.” Phil reassured.

“Hey, are you hungry, Adrienne? You always get a little cranky when you’re hungry.” Darek prodded and added to her agitation. “Grab some of your berries. Come on, lighten up.” He continued as her eyes narrowed and her glare sharpened upon him. She edged like she was getting ready to pounce at him.

“Just trying to help…” He said as he threw his hands up.

Without warning, a series of loud cracks… crack crack CRACK CRACKKKK.. louder with each one came rattling from the left side of the trail to save Darek from Adrienne. Suddenly, with a last crack, a light-sand colored object that was a pinhead in the distance became a huge boulder in just a moment. Whipping towards them, it slowed to an abrupt stop, dead center in the trail. Everyone but Chip screamed and lurched, diving for cover. Chip stood frozen, shaking and staring as the pilot of the craft looked down at him from the small cockpit of a ship that stopped only a few feet away. Sound that was unmistakably music came from within the cockpit, but lowered in volume and disappeared quickly after the ship stopped. A bunch of feathers fell from the air and swirled in a path behind the craft, and fewer swirled gently down around Chip and the rest of the crew.

The mysterious ship wasn’t big, but wasn’t small either. The head was smooth and aerodynamic with a narrow windshield extending in a semicircle around the front and smooth-curved sides. It hovered motionless where it had stopped and hissed gently. The smoothly curved bottom hung about two feet above the ground at present. It had no wings, just short stabilizing fins running the body length, eight total, all around the circumference. On top of the sleek, tan ship sat containers tied securely to the roof behind an aerodynamic lip. One of them was opened at the back and clearly emptied, but had a few feathers stuck to the cloth lining it.

An odd image overall, the crew peered with intrigue, waiting for something to happen. The driver could be seen only as a dark form through the glare on the windshield. It was moving.

A large humanoid exited from the side and hit the ground with a very dense thud. “Oh, shit.” Darek let slip under his breath as he stepped back in caution at the size of the new visitor. Despite the fact that it was hovering, the ship raised slightly at the pilot’s exit. The pilot looked up smiling and confused, surprised even, while the bunch of humans stared back terrified and tense, and Chip and Henry folded into defensive rocks. The crew stepped back in alarm as the pilot came a few steps closer, but he threw his hands up and his dynamic facial expressions said woah woah, no harm, I’m cool. All remained cautious. He was broader and taller than the human crew and would have towered over Chip and Henry had they been standing still. His skin was closer in tone to the humans, but deep tan. His features overall were also similar to the humans, but his eyebrow-less face was so much more active. Minute changes could speak for themselves, without the need for words. He looked like a bigger and better human; stronger for sure, stocky. The smile on his face and gentle giggle were menacing, but disarming at the same time as his expression hinted no malice. It was as if all the small folds and ripples of his face could speak for him.

He had large, round, human-like ears poking out through either side of the densely dread locked hair he had just tied back. But what really stood out were his eyes. When Phil finally caught them, he was locked in and his breath pulled right out of him. They were completely moon gray and metallic; he had no whites. Centered on each was a pupil made of two small overlapping circles side by side, black against the glowing gray behind them. They pierced each individual as he soaked them in. The clothing he wore looked rugged but uniform and had undoubtedly seen use.

“HAui-u” The large pilot spoke in a deep, but not unfriendly tone.

Everyone stared blankly.

“HAui-u” He called out again, raising his hand in a small wave.

Phil looked to Darek nervously for direction, but Darek looked back and threw his hands open with a shrug to say I have no idea. He turned to Chip and Henry for advice, but they were still rolled up.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and turned around after seeing that no one else was going to come forward just yet. Now mentally set on doing what he had to, Phil stepped toward the intimidatingly large visitor. “Hi, I’m Phil.” He tapped his chest as he said his name. “We crashed here accidentally after we were attacked, we mean no harm. Who are you?” As he spoke, he did his best to gesture openly and slowly so as not to threaten.

The tall pilot smiled and giggled excitedly, pointing at Phil as his face lit up. His features showed extreme excitement and he gestured with a finger – which Phil took to mean ‘hang on’ – as he backed up slowly toward his ship while nodding, mouth wide in disbelief.

He turned to enter, but stopped, just noticing the feathers falling, and looked up at the roof to see his storage container had torn and contents escaped. With exasperation he threw his arms up and made a face, then while shaking his head he continued back into his ship in a quick bound. It sunk a few inches when he climbed in.

Suddenly music they could just barely make out started coming from inside. It sounded familiar. The giant hopped back out of the ship and excitedly waved them closer to the entry, gesturing to his ear repeatedly as he waved them over, then making signals with his hand by his mouth to pantomime talking. His energy was so believably innocent they all approached, a little hesitant, but not sensing harm. He was definitely excited as he giggled and exclaimed, still gesturing emphatically to get them closer.

The music was loud and clear now that they stood by the entry. Phil, Darek, and Adrienne froze when they got close enough to realize what they were listening to. Phil’s face said, No way. Adrienne looked confused and almost upset. Darek said flatly out loud, “You gotta be shittin’ me.”

Jeff bounced with excitement and pointed at Darek, then to his ear and then his mouth again. “It’s our music…” Phil said, more of a statement than a question. The music kept beating in the background and the large pilot started to wiggle and dance to it, then pointed back to the humans as if in invitation, and again to his mouth, then back at them. He pointed up to the sky and then to his ship back and forth, as if to say he received it from space.

“Guys… that’s my music… I was just listening to this before everything happened on the base… that’s Major Lazer, it’s my grandpa’s old Earth music.” Phil said, his voice higher pitched with disbelief, but he nodded along to the beat and smiled while looking at the pilot.

The pilot gestured “hang on” again and climbed back into the ship. He waved them closer, and they looked into the tiny cockpit to see him sitting in too small of a pilot’s seat and flipping through music looking back to them.

He had tons of Earth music, and he seemed to love it. Even Adrienne was looking positive and started enjoying what was going on. Suddenly a look of surprise spread on the pilot’s face and he spun out of the seat, whacking his head on the top of the too small cockpit as he stood. With grumbles and what had to be curses, he rubbed the bump out and gestured “hang-on” again. After pressing a button, the music stopped, and he began clanking around inside where they couldn’t see.

They backed away from the opening to give him space to do what he was doing and turned to face Chip and Henry, whom they had completely forgotten - Henry kept picking up different feathers and twirling them around in his fingers, studying them. He was just going through his pack when he jumped at the sight of the pilot coming jogging around the other side of the ship towards them, holding a black disk in his hands.

“Is he bringing us weights?” Darek said to Phil, looking confused.

“No. What!? I mean it looks like it but, why?” Phil brushed him off and looked back.

“I’m confused too, man, I don’t know. It’s the first thing that popped into my head. It looks like a weight plate,” Darek shrugged again, not knowing what else it could be.

The pilot didn’t seem to notice or care that they were speaking to each other as he stared at the black metallic disc in his hands and pushed buttons from time to time. He placed the object on the ground and sat before it, then pointed to Chip and Henry and back down to the ground in front of the device across from where he was sitting.

With a touch, a blue glow came from a circular light at the disc’s center and he spoke to it. The device brightened in small pulses with his voice, and a second later it spoke out with a purple light in a different tone and language.

“Hey that sounds like Chip.” Darek said taken aback.

Chip looked terrified at the disc, but talked back to it. The disc pulsed blue with his speech and a second after he stopped it pulsed purple in what sounded like the same language the pilot had used.

“HE’S GOT A TRANSLATOR. OH MY GOODNESS. THIS IS TOO PERFECT.” Phil said, smiling and breathing relief.

In the middle of Chips response, the pilot smiled and nodded happily. When the message stopped, he spoke more quickly and at greater length. Chip and Henry both became much more relaxed.

“Phil?” Adrienne spoke quietly. “Phil, we don’t know where we are. He doesn’t know our language exists.”

“Shit.” Phil’s hope for easy communication vanished.

Gesturing toward Henry and the humans at times, Chip and the pilot continued an exchange for a while.

Adrienne, Phil, and Darek sat next to Allen while the conversation continued. Adrienne fussed with Allen’s hair, clearing it from his gray and sunken face, feeling the extreme warmth of his feverish skin. A small wrinkle in his cheek was the only response she got.

Chip and Henry walked back over to the humans and pointed to the pilot who had reentered his ship and then pointed to Allen and pointed again, signaling far along the straight path that they had come across. Chip gestured with both hands, a calm face, and warm smile as if to say “have patience.”

They all sat around for a while, Henry was going over his map as Chip drew a variety of the feathers he had collected from around the ship. Phil and Darek laid back and Adrienne continued to look over Allen in worry.

Out of nowhere, the pilot came running over from the ship again and sat down by them, dropping the disc on the ground. He spoke into the pulsing blue light.

The purple pulsed back, “Hi, my name Jeff. These guys Chip and Henry, they from here. I hear your voice in music from sky, I used to tune to you speak. It won’t be perfect but it can do. More we talk, better this. It will learn.”

Phil and Darek sat up very straight, radiating shock. The speaking caught Chip and Henry’s attention too. Adrienne immediately spoke “Can you help us? My brother. He’s very hurt. He needs help now. He could...” She trailed off, not able to finish her sentence. The purple pulsed back to Jeff, and he responded.

“I can help. But only him come. My ship small. I will come back in few days and bring you to city. He will safe. We can help him. We can help you all.” With those words, Adrienne broke down into tears against Phil’s shoulder.

Jeff looked startled, as if he had hurt her. His glare toward Phil and Darek was quizzical while he spoke and tapped the translator. “Why you sad? Did this work? I said I help.” Adrienne, still tucked into Phil, turned to see Jeff. Tears covered her face, but she had a smile on as she spoke. “It did work, you’re fine. Thank you. Thank you. I thought he was going to die. I didn’t think we would find help. Thank you.” She was overcome again as she reburied her face into Phil, half laughing, half crying. He smiled warmly and nodded thanks to Jeff while comforting Adrienne.

They exchanged more details and the translator quickly adapted to their speech patterns. Jeff explained that there were three intelligent species occupying the planet; the people he was a part of were called the Valderians. Chip and Henry were a part of a race known as Ancarans, and the third were called Netmadans.

“Now, you can be sure the Netmada saw you crash and are here to find out what happened, even though it is on our side of the ocean. Chip and Henry believe they saw Netmadan drones before meeting you. The Netmadan government are devious and won’t respect the terms of our no-contact agreement if they believe something significant that may benefit Valderia has happened. I was in Netmada when you crashed and caught you on observation equipment, but you whipped right over, so they will be coming. I noticed an increase in activity as I left. We feared you were a weapon from Netmada, so I left to return to Valderia in case something bad was coming. I had no idea I would be meeting you, Hoomans.” Darek chuckled as Jeff spoke to the translator. His pronunciation of ‘human’ was a distinct “HOO-man.”

“We got really lucky that I found you first. There’s no telling what they might do if they stumbled across a set of helpless aliens. We need to move as soon as we can, so they have less chance of finding us before we get you to safety. My ship is way too small for all of you. I will take Allen back to Valderia and get medical help for him. I will tell the Valderians about your missing friends and send search parties. I can return with a larger transport and bring you all back where we’ll figure out what’s next. You should follow Chip and Henry. They know how to live off the land and will keep you safe enough for now. I will give you a map to follow,” he said as he looked to Chip and Henry, who nodded their acknowledgement back.

“Keep on the move, get farther away from where you crashed, you should change direction. Remain concealed as best as you can, you should be able to move faster without having to care for your injured. I will give you a beacon from my ship. Keep it on you and do not turn it on until after two moons have come and gone, that is the soonest I can get back here. Once you turn it on, anyone will be able to track it. I will be close by then so there shouldn’t be a problem, and the Netmada will not be looking for Valderian freight trackers, but it will stand out in the middle of nowhere. Chip, Henry, I will ensure there is enough room in the transport for you to join us if you like. No Ancaran has ever been to Valderia. Make your decision as you travel, and you can choose finally what you would like to do when I arrive.”

Chip and Henry’s eyes widened, euphoric with joy at the offer… their decision had just been made.

Adrienne held her brothers’ hand as the others lifted him into Jeff’s ship. She stayed close to him, wiping his hair. Light tears trickled down her face now and then as he lay unresponsive. They gave her a minute and stepped outside the ship where Jeff explained the trackers operation.

“Here.” Jeff said as he handed over a small palm sized container and the translator. Phil took them both and looked inside the container to find what looked like medicine capsules. “This will help your pains go away. It is simple medicine. Use this and you should feel fit to travel fast. You may find yourself sleeping better too.”

Darek’s lower lip curled out as he let out a “Hm” of surprised gratitude. Phil thanked him and Adrienne reluctantly exited the ship so Jeff could get in. “Remember, do not turn the tracker on until sunrise after two moons. I’ll be close by then. Chip, Henry, stay on the course I mapped and we’ll have you to safety in no time.”

The hatch of the ship sealed itself and it silently coasted forward at low speed. Jeff gave a wave and a nod. They all returned the gesture as the ship hissed louder and louder, coasting away at an increasing rate. All of the sudden a CRACK BOOM!!! thundered, and all that was left was a plume of dust. Adrienne continued to stare off after the ship they could no longer see, lost in her deep thoughts.

Phil watched her; he knew the fear of uncertainty that had been consuming her. He hated seeing pain in others. Jeff coming along was a brief stall in the gale, but not knowing what would happen to Allen had Adrienne rent in a storm. He knew the torment of watching seconds pass without knowing how the next ones would play out, how horribly they could go wrong; out-of-control thoughts that ached, contradicted, and confused.

As he watched her, he could see the Adrienne inside her mind, her chin kept just above the surface, constantly kicking, but being tugged down. Each changing thought a choking splash as the rough waters of her anxiety threatened to drown her. She was holding herself together incredibly well for what he saw behind her honey-brown eyes. He wondered if she knew he could tell how upset she was; wondered if she knew there was a way out, that it would end, that he could help her get through.

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