Page 6 of Caveman Alien's Terror

“I think it’s an alien who may well have something to do with the Plood that abducted us and dumped us here. Whichcouldmean that he just might be able to secure us a ride home. He may even have a spaceship himself.”

“M-hm. We should know much more about those guys before we start hitch-hiking with them, I think.”

I look out at the jungle around us. Bryar is married and pregnant, and she’s probably not too interested in going to Earthif it means leaving planet Xren permanently. She’s built a whole life here, and I think the same is true for the other girls, too. It might be hard to convince them to go, even if that blue guy has the right contacts with an interstellar cruise line. “Anyway, he gave me some extra attention. Handed me a salen fruit and said I’d have to pay for it later.”

“A fruit vendor who sells on credit,” Bryar sums up. “Not the worst kind of alien, I guess. But I can’t say I like what I hear.” She unconsciously cups her pregnant belly with one hand.

“I think the tribes will get rid of that thing well before you pop,” I try to comfort her. “This is what they have been waiting for. With all their mythology and legends and stuff, it almost feels like their whole purpose is to kill those Darkness things. Or capture them or whatever it is they want.”

“Oh, I’m sure they will. Korr’ax will not have something like that roam around close to the village when I’m waddling around pregnant. Here, try this.” She spears a piece of stuffed pepper-like vegetables with a wooden skewer and hands it to me.

It’s piping hot, so I blow on it before I gingerly take a small bite with my front teeth. “Nice. Juicy and spicy.”

“Right? I used some of thosedretsherbs that taste like pine needles. I wish someone would find a ginger mine, though. Or a cumin quarry.”

“Or a ketchup lake,” I finish her fantasy. “Then we could be serious about using Bronwen’s marvelous bread to make hamburger buns from. Once someone invents the meat grinder for the burger patties.”

“I thought that was your job”, Bryar jokes. “Feels like we assigned it to someone.”

“Inventing the meat grinder and the hamburgerareon my list,” I reply, chewing on the food. “Items ninety-six and ninety-seven. I’ll get there eventually. But I expect you to discover sesame seeds before then. For the buns.”

Bryar chuckles. “I’ll see what I can do. We may have to drill for them. I promise nothing.”

“That’s all we ask,” I tell her. “That you don’t promise.”

“I’m actually super good at not promising.” She sighs deeply, clearly content. “This really isn’t a bad life, Astrid. We have lots of food, we can invent things anytime we want, there’s a big tribe of cavemen protecting us, we’re valued and honored members of the tribe, and we’re connected to the Tretter tribe, the Krast tribe and the Foundlings. We’re slowly starting to make the planet ours. Did you ever think we’d get this far?”

“Mostof us have come far,” I mutter. “We’re safe and comfortable. Honored and even celebrated. Flourishing, I would say. All five of us.”

She gives me a glance. “Are you thinking about Cora?”

I look away. “Sorry, I know I keep going on about her. It’s just on my mind a lot. Especially when things are going really well for us. Like now.”

“I’ve actually never heard you talk about her,” Bryar says. “I only know because Bronwen and Alba told me that you feel guilty about her vanishing.”

“It sometimes comes to the surface,” I tell her. “But I try to stop it, because it brings everyone down. Can I take another one?” I reach out to the grate and pinch another filled not-pepper.

Bryar nods. “Sure, help yourself. Hey, if you want to talk about it, I’m all ears. I never heard the full story about what happened to her. I’ve been meaning to ask. So consider it asked.”

I think about it as I blow on the alien pepper. Telling Bryar about it will be painful, but it might also prepare her for what comes later. It might help her understand the choices I’ll be making very soon. “Tell me to shut up when you’ve heard enough of my whining, all right? So Alba, Bronwen, Cora, and I were dumped on Xren. We ran around in a panic for a few days, trying to not be eaten by dinosaurs. But as opposed to you and Piper, we actually had some stuff with us, because I was returning from an archeological dig when I was abducted. I was wearing a backpack with all kinds of useful things in it. Including a shovel. So we wanted to get away from the jungle, off the ground somehow. And climbing the trees is… well, you know what they’re like. It’s just not possible. So the only way we knew was down. Okay, we dug. It was easy, and the soil was loose but not crumbly. Soon we’d dug a tunnel that we could curl up and sleep in. We felt safer than up top. Much safer. We still had to go up to get food and water, but at least we had a place to return to.”

“That’s important,” Bryar comments quietly. “Having a home, not being just strays.”

“And that’s how we spent the first three years or so,” I go on. “We expanded the tunnel, we put up some wooden supports to keep it from collapsing, and we started to dig longer tunnels so that we could get to important places without having to go out at all. It wasn’t much of a life, and we were absolutely miserable. But we were alive, and that’s not to be taken for granted in the jungle. We were constantly hungry. We were limited to a few types of fruit and roots, and it was getting tedious. You and Piper know all about that, too. Also we were worried about the nutrition wewere getting. The fruits were sweet, but even so, we felt that we weren’t getting the energy we needed. We were always feeling weak.”

“I remember that feeling,” Bryar says softly. “It’s not fun.”

“It’s really not. So. One day I’d just returned from aboveground with some fruits and roots. It had been one of those days. I fell into a thorn bush and I had to run from one of those moths the size of an albatross. And I was always scared out of my mind when I was out of the tunnels. So I was not in a great mood. And Cora said something that I interpreted as an insult about the food I just risked my life to get. Now I don’t even remember what she said. But I snapped and asked if it wasn’t good enough for her.”

Bryar keeps working with her food, listening and nodding.

I take a break to drink some water. Thinking back to those days is something I try to avoid. “We were both running on fumes with a blood sugar level of just about zero, so tempers flared. For absolutely no reason. You know how that can happen. In the end I practically dared her to leave and come back with better things than I got. I could tell it scared her. But I kept pushing, fully aware that I was going too far. I’m not sure if you know this, but Cora rarely went out of the tunnels, and we usually didn’t comment on it. She’s not the strongest girl. But now I left her no choice. I called her out on how she rarely contributed to the common food stores. The other girls heard it. Cora went really pale. Then, without another word, she climbed out of the tunnels. And she never returned.” My voice cracks at the last word.

Bryar reaches out and puts a hand on my forearm. “Everyone has to contribute in a situation like that. Both Piper and Ihatedleaving the beach and entering the jungle to find food. But we had no choice. Zero.”

“I know. But Cora wasn’t well. We all saw it. She had no strength. She got winded easily and she could carry less than us. She ate much less than we did, too. Although she was just as hungry as we were. I saw the fear in her eyes, Bryar. She was terrified. She knew she couldn’t handle it. She would be going to her death. And still I kept pushing…” I cover my eyes with one hand.

“Then it was about time,” Bryar states. “It was her turn to contribute. I know it’s harsh, but there can’t be any freeloaders in the jungle. Whatever happened to her wasn’t your fault at all. You don’t control the planet.”

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