Chapter 4 - Observation

 As they emerged from the shallow water they could feel the warm fine sand cling to their wet feet, it felt good and as much as they would like to have lingered for a while, they knew they had to find cover. At this stage they could not afford to be discovered, at least not until they had seen some of the locals and confirmed that their clothing and appearance would fit in. Along the beach they could see a small outcrop of rocks which they thought may afford them a more sheltered place to hide and to plan their reconnoitre. As they ran along the beach the beeping sound in their ears slowed in frequency until it completely stopped. They could feel their feet drying on the sand and by the time they were safely hidden amongst the outcrop they were completely dry.

 The outcrop was a collection of huge jagged boulders that had, sometime in history, been part of a major landslide from the surrounding cliffs. This, however, was not a part of recent history and there was no danger of further subsidence from this rock formation. J.D. was fascinated by the structure of the rocks and spent a few minutes inspecting them. As he came around the back of one particularly huge outcrop, he came across a small cave which stretched back into the cliff base some ten to fifteen feet or so, the cave roof was about seven feet tall and the cave was completely dry.

“Mary, come here”

As he spoke Mary heard him perfectly in her ear and started around the outcrop to meet him. When she found him he was inside the cave with his arms outstretched displaying his find.

 “Are you guys getting this” he asked,

 “Yes indeed, it looks like an ideal place to use as a shore base” answered Travis, who was bringing the find to the attention of the captain. Daniels looked at the monitors and agreed. “Good find guys”

 It was time for them to move on, and so, cautiously they made their way to the back of the beach scrambled over a small hill and began to make their way inland. They had travelled approximately five hundred meters when they were contacted from the shuttle.

 “Ok guys its time for you to split up now so decide who is going which way and we will keep in touch individually, J.D., Anne is going to monitor you and Mary you have me” said Travis. With this Mary and J.D. shook hands and started to walk in different directions. Of course they would still be in contact via the earcoms but for the first time they suddenly felt very alone.

 As he walked between the trees looking for some sort of path to follow, J.D. was taking in all of his surroundings, the trees, the plants, the little creatures that were flying around, when all of a sudden he disturbed a somewhat larger creature which ran though the undergrowth disturbing the surrounding foliage and giving out a warning shriek. Almost simultaneously J.D. let out a shout of his own and it was obvious that it was a yell of fear. Instantly his head was filled with at least three other voices,

“JD……what’s happening? Are you alright? Speak to me……JD”

Somewhat breathless he explained what had happened, told everyone to calm down and realised that although he was feeling somewhat foolish, they had all just had a minor wake up call to the fact that they were in a strange place, and should be on their guard at all times. He bent down, grasped his knees, took two or three deep breaths, stood up shook his head and continued on his way.

 The further inland he walked, the more he noticed that the lush greenery was becoming thinner and thinner until finally it almost disappeared completely.  He found himself standing on the edge of a topographically different area. In front of him the scene was barren, a rock strewn desert landscape that stretched out in all directions as far as the eye could see. He stood motionless for a while; the sun was starting to get hot, what he wouldn’t do for a pair of decent sunglasses, shading his eyes. He scanned the horizon, trying to decide which direction he should go. He bent down and picked up a small handful of sand and threw it up into the air, some of the grains caught on the light gentle wind and flew off just to his right ‘well that’s as good a direction as any’ he thought, and started to walk in the same direction that the breeze was blowing. As he walked the day grew hotter.

 He had been travelling for about an hour when he came to the foot of the hill. It was not steep; it just seemed to go on forever, upwards. Thinking to himself that he should have chosen a different direction he started to climb. As he did, the sand under his feet gave way and each step was diminished as his stride sank backwards. The short journey was arduous and exhausting, it seemed never ending, one step forwards, one slide back. But as he reached the top he was rewarded. The summit of the hill gradually gave way to a view that thrilled him beyond. He got to the absolute apex and lay down on his front and observed.

 “Can you hear me guys”

 He felt a little stupid alone on this sandy hill, no one for miles around talking to himself.

 “Loud and clear, go ahead”

 “I’ve come across a big town or city or something can you see it”

 The shuttle confirmed that they could and waited for J.D. to speak.

 “Could you zoom in on the town and tell me if the clothes we have are going to fit in”

 Control tried to get a good picture of the town from the camera located in the headwear that J.D. was wearing. 

“John we can’t get a good picture unless you can keep your head still”

 With that comment J.D. placed his fist in the sand and placed his other fist on top of the first and then placed his chin on top, “Is that better?” 

The shuttle said that it was, and that they would apply anti- judder to the images to see if they could get a better image to work from. They had been filming for about forty five seconds when J.D. asked if they had enough to determine whether the computer projection was accurate enough for them to pass undetected amongst the indigenous community. Control confirmed that they had, and that the clothes which they now wore were good enough to pass. He then asked them to describe what they had seen in more detail.

 “O.K. well the town that you have found is nothing remarkable, it seems to be little more than a collection of roughly built houses, no particular layout to the town, no discernable road structures and no visible signs of mechanised industry whatsoever. The houses are, in the main, one storey simple dwellings that seem to be built around one larger building that seems to be the centre of the town; we think that this building could be the main authority, if any, of the community, but at this point this is only supposition. It’s….err…it seems a little early to see any people but you can relax the ones that we have seen appear to be exactly the same as us two arms, two legs etc..Oh, and only one head which is a pretty good sign. Stand by we are just trying to increase the definition of the images. Here we go, there are some people there that seem to be dressed exactly the same way that you are john, and well, I don’t believe it they have the same long hair and, hang on, they seem also to have facial growth like you. John you are going to have no problem fitting in here.”

 With that J.D. stood up brushed the sand from the front of his robe and started down towards the town.

 Mary had been walking in the opposite direction and had heard all of what had been transpiring between J.D. and base. The more she had walked and listened, the more she had become settled, mentally, about the way that they would fit in amongst the locals. By now she was just strolling along taking in all of the smells and views of her surroundings, and although it was quite barren it held a certain fascination for her, somehow it felt comfortable and for want of a better word it uncannily felt like home. This was a feeling that she could not explain to herself, she had certainly never been here before, or even been in a place that remotely resembled her present surroundings, but nevertheless it felt strangely familiar, comfortable. She seemed to have been walking for ages, nothing changing, nothing different, the same landscape, the same lack of vegetation and the same desert. Almost ready to resign herself to the fact that she would find nothing, she stopped in her tracks. In the distance, somewhere, she thought that she had heard something. It seemed to be almost musical, a ringing, clanging sound. She stood motionless, took one deep breath and held it, to prevent her breathing affecting her hearing. After a few seconds she closed her eyes and covered them with her hand and tried to focus all of her concentration on finding the direction of the sound. When she thought that she had located the direction she opened her eyes, briefly looked towards the area in which she thought that the sound was coming from and started off in that direction. As she walked, the sound started to get louder and more distinct. She could now hear that the sound was that of muted bells, the sound that one would expect from bells that were not well formed, exactly like the ones that hung around the necks of animals back at home, and indeed the closer to the sound she came, the more the sound fitted her image. Mary rounded a small outcrop of rock and almost found herself in the middle of a small group of goats. Some of the animals were startled by Mary’s sudden appearance and darted off in different directions. One of them caught Mary on her side in his efforts to escape, and sent Mary careering to the ground. Almost as soon as she had hit the floor a figure appeared towering above her, reaching out his outstretched arm to help her to her feet, his face was full of concern for her wellbeing. As he helped her up he was talking to Mary but his words meant nothing to her. His language was one that she nor any of the others had ever heard before, and as he spoke to her the voice recognition software aboard the shuttle was recording and analyzing every syllable trying to formulate some sort of phonetic structure and meaning, searching for anything that the computers could use to begin the basis of a translation for this strange tongue. In the cockpit the main screen had now been designated solely to the purpose in hand. This unexpected encounter had brought forward the need to translate, and as quickly as it had happened, the crew had rearranged the monitors to accommodate this new situation. The views from the cameras that the shore based crew were carrying had been split screen on the big monitor, but now they were being displayed on the smaller screens situated either side of the main central screen. Mary’s saviour was still talking to her and still making no sense whatsoever. Travis was watching him on the left-hand side screen and as he was talking the centre screen was feverishly flashing through all known language structures and phonetics to try to construct some form of communication. The man looked somewhat dishevelled. He was unshaven and had long dark hair. The robe in which he was dressed was almost exactly the same as the one which J.D. was wearing, but this one was a faded chalk blue and was somewhat more worn and shabby. Mary noticed that he had a certain unpleasant odour, it was, she decided, a cross between the animals which he tended and a whiff of poor hygiene, a pronounced smell of stale sweat. It was not an overpowering smell but Mary was aware of it. He continued to talk to her.

“Are you guys getting this” asked Mary “because I could sure do with some help here?”

 As she spoke Travis could see the quizzical look on the strangers face, it was obvious that he could understand Mary no more than she could him. Travis assured her that the computer was working on the problem but at this moment they needed more conversation to work with. In her ear she could hear J.D. asking if she was alright and if she felt that she was in any danger. She answered him and said that she didn’t think that this person was any threat to her. Because she was speaking out loud to J.D. the stranger thought that she was speaking to him, which bought forth more of the strange language, and the computer continued to work. The stranger had sat Mary down on a nearby rock and had started to tend her minor wounds. She had scratched herself on her wrist during the fall and the area had begun to go red, small droplets of blood began to seep though the skin and rest in small globules on the surface. The man held Mary’s hand gently and inspected the damage; he said some words and reached for a soft animal skin container that was slung over his head and hung around his side. Looking around he could find nothing to use to clean the wound and so he took the small hide top off the container and poured some of the water onto a corner of his robe and started to bathe the wound. He seemed unconcerned at the sight of Mary’s blood and so from this she had deducted that he was seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

 “Well it seems that we have the same colour blood”

 She said, and the man smiled at her almost as if he understood. Anne Homer agreed. Travis’s voice came into her ear telling her that the computer needed more conversation. Mary tried to assist as much as she could by talking to the man. Feeling a little stupid she pointed to herself and said ‘Mary’. She then patted her chest and repeated her name. The man looked at her a little confused and shrugged his shoulders. She was not going to give up and so she repeated the action of patting her chest and repeating her name, each time she did so, she pointed at him using a questioning gesture, and asking his name. after about five or six times the man finally realized what Mary was asking and a look of realisation spread across his face, he then said that his name was Aaron and found great pleasure in the fact that, albeit for one word, they had been able to communicate. He then lifted the water container and offered it to Mary and gestured that she should take a drink. Not wanting to offend her new friend she accepted and thanked him. The more that he spoke to Mary, the more the computers were finding translatable words, and each word that the computers thought was recognisable was highlighted on the screen highlighting usable words in orange. These words would take their place in the dictionary that would eventually become the main means of communication with these people. The words on the screen were only computer guesses and were subject to change at any time. Once the computer was satisfied that a particular word was an exact translation the orange light immediately turned to green, and would be locked into the memory. There was no way of knowing when they would have a fully working language bank to refer to, and so, it was imperative that they sample as much conversation as possible. 

After he had finished bathing her wound and they had had their fill of the water, Aaron rose to his feet from where he had been sitting, next to Mary. He held out his hand to her and beckoned her to follow him; she stood up and spoke,

 “I think he wants me to go with him what should I do”

 As she spoke Aaron half nodded, half bowed his head and held out his hand in front of him beckoning some more.

 In her ear she could hear Travis telling her to stand by for further instructions. This was a decision he had not got the authority to make, and so he pressed the button that opened the ship wide communication channel.

“Captain, this is Travis, you might want to get in here we have a situation that requires your immediate attention”

 Within seconds the captains’ voice came through the speakers.

 “I’m on my way”

 As Captain Daniels walked into the cockpit he could see the image on the screen of the stranger trying to beckon Mary to follow him somewhere. Quickly Travis briefed Daniels on what had happened and told him that Mary needed a decision. “Mary, this is Captain Daniels. Do you feel that this man means you any harm?”

 “No sir, he has been tending the wound that I received when I fell and he has been talking to me for ages. He seems genuine enough, he isn’t armed and in any case if he was going to do anything I think he would have done it by now”

 As she spoke to the captain, the man looked around to see who it was that she was talking to. He seemed a little confused as he listened to Mary’s conversation; he felt that she was talking to someone, but to whom? He knew that it wasn’t himself, and the more she spoke, the more he looked around.

 “I think that this could be an invaluable opportunity for us, I don’t believe that we should waste this chance sir”

 Daniels thought for a second,

 “Ok Mary but if you get into any trouble we will get DeVie to you as soon as we can”

 Mary thanked the captain and assured him that she would be careful. She then turned to Aaron and said,

 “Ok then Aaron, let’s go”

 He seemed quite pleased that Mary had accepted his invitation, and they started walking along the rough path that had obviously been etched into the ground by the feet of countless goats over countless years. As they walked Mary listened to Aaron talk, he had a soft, warm, welcoming voice that did not seem to fit his rough exterior. She felt comfortable with the whole situation. It was as if for some reason she belonged in this primitive hot environment. Although it seemed that she was not paying any attention to him she was listening carefully to see if she could find any part of his language that sounded familiar to her. But this language base was far too difficult for her to even try to understand, she would have to wait for the computers to decipher and translate it into their own.

 Although he had been talking for a long time, and it was obvious to him that Mary had understood nothing of what he had been saying, Aaron continued, probably in the hope that she may understand something and that they would be able to communicate, he was patient, and the way in which he spoke was slow and methodical, and Mary was very attentive to his words.

 “Ok Mary here we go”

 Watkins said in her ear.

 “the computer hasn’t yet managed to come up with a complete language base we need much, much more for that but we have a few basic words that we think may just fit the bill. So, if you are ready I want you to say this, and repeat everything I say syllable for syllable, we don’t want any confusion that may get you into trouble are you ready”

 Mary said that she was and cleared her throat. “Right, as far as we can make out this should say ‘could I have some more water please’. So here we go”

 Watkins then repeated the line in the foreign tongue.

 “Could I have some more water please?”

 Mary cleared her throat once again and said the line as clearly and as slowly as she could.

 “Please, some more water I could have”

 Aaron suddenly stopped, said something, smiled and reached for the water container and offered it to Mary. The translation was grammatically incorrect but it had the desired effect and in her ear she could hear people congratulating each other and herself. After she had taken a drink she handed the water back to Aaron and they continued on their way. Mary, on behalf of the whole mission had a feeling of excitement and achievement and a general sense that they had made an important breakthrough. The more the computers heard, the better the communication between this race and theirs would become. 

J.D. had been listening to the conversation between Mary and the ship, and as he approached the village he did so with a slight smile on his face. He stood for a while on the outskirts of the town, there were only a few houses here, roughly built structures of mud and clay which consisted of a downstairs level and one more level built on top. There seemed to be no specific design to these houses, every one was as individual as the next. Every one exhibited a difference in the building technique that could only have come from the person or persons who constructed them. For the moment he could see no one around. It was quiet and peaceful, and he doubted for the moment that this part of the town was inhabited.

 Beyond the outskirts he could clearly see the rest of the town which was built on a hill, and now that he was nearer he observed that the higher up the hill one looked, the better constructed the buildings were. The entire town seemed to be crowned by one impressive looking structure, its design and construction was far superior to the ones further down the hill and it was far more opulent than any he could see in the town. He started to approach and as he did, the solitary figure of a man appeared from one of the dwellings. On the monitors the crew had spotted him and had decided to let J.D. exercise his prowess in the native language. 

“Ok John, something simple, try this ‘Good Morning’ and don’t forget get it exact”

 J.D waved at the man and said “Good morning”

 The man yawned, waved back and repeated exactly what J.D. had said. Everyone felt that they were making progress.

 They seemed to fit in well, their clothes and their general demeanour did not seem to cause any adverse reactions from the local inhabitants and they had started to feel quite comfortable being here amongst them. J.D. had been wandering around the town for a couple of hours generally observing the people going about their day to day business, it was almost like being an unseen observer allowing him to sit and watch lives revolve around himself as he casually mingled among them.

 Occasionally he would nod his head towards someone and greet them with the ‘good morning’ phrase which was always returned. And other times he would just walk right past a person and look over his shoulder as they passed him, content simply to let that person walk away, oblivious to whom he really was.

 At the end of the street he now found himself on, he could see that there was a small gathering of people walking purposefully in one direction, he decided that this was something he should investigate, and so, he followed the throng as they walked towards the large building at the top of the town. As the procession continued, more and more people seemed to join, and soon the gathering had turned into a crowd. The reason for this behaviour soon became apparent as he turned the last corner and found himself standing at the entrance to quite a fair sized market gathering. The hustle and bustle was really quite amazing; it seemed that every inhabitant of the town was here in this one place. It was vibrant and noisy; the air was filled with people eagerly bartering with the stallholders for the best price they could get to purchase their wares. This was the ideal opportunity for the computers to absorb as much of the local language as it could in one easy session. As he walked deeper into the market he was surprised at the speed of life here, it was a complete contrast to anything he had seen that morning, people seemed passionate to the point of fighting to get exactly what they needed for the day. At the centre of the market there stood a stone trough filled with water, around this trough some asses were tethered and were drinking, totally untroubled by what was happening around them. J.D. sat on the ground near the animals and leaned against the cool stone; he sat, and watched for hours. As he observed and listened, so did the computers, and on board the shuttle the main screen flashed orange and green as more and more words were being recognised. Just as he had started to tire of sitting in one place for so long a man kicked his leg and asked how much he wanted for his animals? Before he could get a translation from the shuttle another man had intervened quite angrily and started to shout quickly and irately in his language. John was caught in the middle of an unpleasant exchange and was being shoved from side to side, this scuffle had not gone unnoticed by the people who were within the vicinity. The shuttle was feverishly trying to translate what was happening to J.D. and advised him to get out of there as soon as he could. They told him to use the word ‘sorry’ as often as he could and make his exit as fast as possible. He did so but not without more abuse and pushing. Eventually he did escape and moved himself to another part of the market. From where he now was, he could still see the furore of the argument and by now it had attracted the attention of some different people, people he had not encountered until now. These men were dressed totally different to anyone he had seen up until now. They wore red, short, lightweight robes under a metal breastplate, on their feet they had sandals which were held in place with leather thongs crisscrossing up their calves. On their heads they wore metal helmets, topped with a black feather crest and hanging at their sides were short swords, whilst some of their number carried long sharpened poles. As the men approached the unrest, two of them drew their swords from out of their scabbards and almost instantaneously the argument was quelled. This was a new and unexpected development for the crew and J.D. was advised to leave the market and find somewhere quieter to continue his observations.

 As he walked briskly out of the market and back along the same street by which he made he entrance earlier, he said out loud,

 “Will someone please tell me what just happened back there and who the hell were those weird guys with all of the hardware?” 

Travis answered him,

 “Ok don’t say anything just carry on walking and I will try to explain. It seems that the big guy who kicked you wanted to buy your animals and the other guy must have thought that you were trying to make a quick buck by selling something that wasn’t yours. That seemed to start the argument, from what we could see here, you got out just in time because the other guys looked like they were the law in town, From the reaction of the people around they are not someone you want to mess with. The strange thing is though, the guys in the uniforms don’t seem to have the same facial structure as the rest of the people here, and it’s almost as if they are an entirely different breed. We really don’t know what’s going on yet, but if you see any more of these guys keep well away. To date they seem to be the only threat here. For now take a break and get yourself together, we will replay the video we got and see if we can come up with anything else”

 J.D. agreed and found himself a stone bench in the shade of a building and sat down.

 “Are you alright”

 It was Mary. He assured her that he was fine, and then described to her what the armed men were wearing and told her to be on her guard.

 The day had grown hot and he was thirsty. Through the open window near where he was sitting he could hear voices laughing and jeering. He could not understand any of what was being said, but it did not seem to be the normal jovial banter of friends. It was almost as if someone was being belittled, or ridiculed. He tried to pay no attention, he was quite happy to relax and let the computers do all of the listening for him. He was idly running his foot through the dry sand on the floor when he noticed a small disc of metal. He bent down, picked it up and examined it closer. It was a coin, roughly made; it bore the head of a person on one side and on the other was the complete figure of another, each image was circled with strange writings. It was not a perfect disc, it seemed to have been pressed or cast with a circle in mind but the finished product fell well short of the aim. As he looked at the coin a man came out of the building where he was sitting and said something to him. The shuttle spoke to J.D.

 “He has just asked you what he can get for you. Say this,’ what do you have?”

 J.D. did what he was told, and the man read out a list of things that he had, 

“well my friend it seems that you have found the local pub, say this ‘I’ll have a glass of your best please’ and lets hope that the coin you found is enough to pay for it”

 Within minutes J.D. was drinking the most disgusting drink he had ever had, but for some strange reason he found himself enjoying it. The banter continued inside for the entire time that he sat with his drink; there was much laughter and a fair amount of protestation, albeit from one voice. He finished the beverage, which left a strange taste in his mouth, stood up and placed the cup where he had been sitting, beside it he placed the coin and walked away from the tavern to see what else he could find. The innkeeper went out to collect the empty pot and collect his pay, whether it was enough or not was irrelevant, J.D. didn’t stay to find out.

 “Listen guys, the captain thinks that you have done enough for today and wants you to return to base so, make your way back as soon as you can” As soon as he heard Travis, J.D. immediately started to backtrack through the town and began to head back to the shore. The heat of the sun had begun to die down now, and as he walked he found time to reflect on the day, as he began his journey back to the shuttle.

 Mary asked for a translation to allow her to make her departure from her host, she had had a nice relaxing day, which had bought a welcome break from the close confines of the last few days. Aaron had turned out to be the perfect companion he was kind and welcoming. They had spent most of the day at his house. After returning with the goats he had corralled them into a field and then had taken Mary to meet his wife Beth, and their newborn child who they had named Luke. Mary could see that they were a loving, content family who had been eager to entertain their guest in the best way they knew how, and although the language barrier was a problem, it did not stop these people from accepting her into their home.

 The house was simple, it consisted of two floors, downstairs was virtually two rooms one which was open to the outside and another, which to all intent and purpose was nothing more than a store room. The upstairs section of the house was also two rooms. One room was where the family slept and the other was where they lived, cooked, and spent most of their day. Mary had been entertained for most of the day on the roof section which was covered by a rough canopy, which gave much needed shade from the searing heat of the midday sun. On the roof there were a few rustic built chairs and a table, and throughout the whole house the walls were bare accept for the few pots and pans in the kitchen area, and the few trinkets which had been attached here and there to break up the starkness of the decor. She almost didn’t want to leave, she felt really quite comfortable with these people and thanks to the sporadic translation she was receiving, had managed to gain quite an insight into the day to day life of a local herder, but the time had come for her to take her leave of them, so she made her excuses and having received her translation she told them that it was time to go and she thanked them for their hospitality. They in turn invited her to return at any time. Aaron offered to walk her back to the place where they had met but she declined, thanked them once again, took her leave and started back to rendezvous with J.D.

 As she approached the beach she could see J.D. leaning against the rock formation they had first seen when they came ashore. She waved at him and he waved back and said hello, and although they were still quite a distance apart, the novelty of the earpieces still held a great fascination for them both. Walking across the sandy beach, she was in no hurry, she could talk to john, and at the same time enjoy these last few moments before returning to the shuttle. The closer she came to the sea the stronger she could hear the homing signal in her ear, it was not uncomfortable but it was there. They chatted for a while and then decided that it was time to return. They walked along the sea line and as they did,  the signal became stronger and faster until it reached a pitch and speed that told them that they had reached the place where they had left the escape pods. After carefully looking around to see whether they could see anyone, they walked into the sea, located the pods, and placed their feet back into the foot controls. As soon as their feet were properly located the homing signal stopped and the platform rose to the surface. They then manoeuvred the pods back out to sea raised the sides and started back to the shuttle.

Chapter 5 - Ridicule