Chapter 4: Welcome

Disclaimer: This is the rough draft of “The Terra Project”, a novel in progress. The story, characters, and events are subject to change during the editing process.

Please keep in mind that as a rough draft, the writing style and organization is expected to be poor and or lacking. As quoted by Ernest Hemingway, “The first draft of anything is shit.”

Comments and critique are greatly appreciated, though it is preferred that advanced critiquing be held off until later drafts. Anyone interested in the story or the novel project is encouraged to email me at fishbowlery@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

Dr. Harrow was quite pleased with the fortunate coinciding of relative time between Dengris and his new location. The local time where he had set down. The Lovable Dictator had breezed into the new continent to find a desert that stretched for about two thousand miles before they finally found a river, made visible by the starlight glinting off of it. Once the promising sign was located, they simply followed it south with the ship's external lights off until they spotted what was unmistakably a sentient encampment. By then it was the ideal local time to head to sleep, so they landed just out of sight and called it a night.

Now Dr. Harrow had gotten up at the reasonable hour of seven in the morning local time having gotten the ideal eight hours of sleep.

As he was up making last-minute preparations and fixing coffee, Taco and Alex groggily rolled out of their own bunks.

“Que pasa...” Taco grumbled.

“Morning,” Dr. Harrow answered back. He was already in his trench suit. “We'll be heading out to the encampment soon to meet the locals, so try to dress nice, but conservatively. Would either of you like coffee?”

Taco grunted. He was still in his nightclothes, consisting of Hawaiian shorts and a tee shirt.

Alex was in something that could not be determined to be a nightgown or a bathrobe. Ze looked at Dr. Harrow, grunted “pour me a nice cup,” and shuffled into the bathroom with a change of clothes in hand, closing the door behind hir with a click.

“Aren't you excited?” Dr. Harrow asked Taco as he handed him a cup of piping hot coffee.

“Mas o menos,” Taco grumbled. “Pero nunca estaba un madrugador,”

“It's not early local time and you got plenty of sleep.”

“Nunca puedes dormirse suficiente,” Taco countered.

Dr. Harrow rolled his eyes. “Go ahead and get changed, we're moving out soon. You're going to have to be there to teach English to someone.”

“Juaquin puede hacerlo,” Taco grumbled. “Fuerza que el lo haga.”

“I think Jack would look funny and we have to make this the least suspicious we can for these people. We have to give them absolutely no reason to fear or dislike us. If we can get them to listen to us then that's a start, but we're back to square one if they try to attack us. That's if we make it out,” Dr. Harrow added. “If Alonso had any sense he'll have put guns here, where are they?”

Taco pointed groggily to a large cabinet near the back of the ship and Dr. Harrow walked over and searched it. Inside were four rifles stacked neatly on top of each other, four pistols, and four assault rifles, all of a distinctive golden-yellow finish.

Dr. Harrow examined them thoughtfully. Assault rifles made absolutely no sense in this context. They implied a firefight, either a close quarter fight with both sides wielding guns or sweeping bursts aimed at a large number of targets. The sentient life here most likely didn't have any guns, and Dr. Harrow knew that Alonso would never arm anyone for a massacre, which the other situation would most likely be. It was nearly dumbfounding to him that such a weapon would be on the ship.

Also, the fact that there were four of each to be divided amongst three crewmates seemed puzzling at best, and close to suspicious at the worst.

Alex opened the bathroom door and walked out. Taco stumbled in behind hir with his own selected attire for the day right as Dr. Harrow turned around.

“Good choice, you look nice,” he complimented.

Alex tossed hir golden-blond hair, which was now chest length. Ze had taken a completely feminine form, removing any trace of the startling effect that had taken Dr. Harrow by surprise the night before, but had thrown on a version of the uniform that was most definitely masculine in order to maintain some gender defiance without offending the eyes.

“Glad you like it. What are you looking at?”

“I'm looking at you, I guess,” he replied. “I'm wondering how you do that,”

“I meant the box,” Alex corrected. “If I remember right, that's the weapons locker.”

“Yes, it is,” Dr. Harrow answered. “Out of curiosity, do you happen to have any training with any of the firearms provided?”

Alex thought on this. “Well, hopefully we won't need any guns at all,” ze said.

“Hopefully,” Dr. Harrow agreed.

“But, if worst comes to worst,” ze continued. “I can use a rifle fairly well.”

Dr. Harrow lifted one of the rifles carefully from the locker and weighed it in his hands. It was fairly cold to the touch and slightly heavier than most weapons of the sort that he'd come into contact with, though it seemed slightly more hollow in its structure. He turned around and handed it gingerly to Alex, who held it at hir side.

Taco pushed out of the bathroom, wearing a plain, black sombrero and matching plain baggy pants, long sleeved shirt, and an open black vest outlined with a bright red trim.

“You look suave, perfect for the job today,” Dr. Harrow complimented.

“Gracias,” Taco replied. His tone conveyed that he would vastly have preferred his usual less plain attire, but had accepted that it was what was needed for the time being.

“Do you have a preferred weapon? It would probably be a good idea to arm ourselves just in case, you know,” Dr. Harrow said.

“La ametralladora,” Taco answered flatly. “Pero Ojala que no lo necesitamos.”

Dr. Harrow looked back into the locker. The assault rifle was quite bulky and would be blatantly obvious. Even if the locals didn't know what it was, it probably wouldn't look inviting to them.

“Think you could settle for a pistol?”

Taco rolled his eyes. “No me gusta para nada que nos piden que cambien todo que somos y hacemos solo para parecer bien a los personas.”

Alex nodded in agreement and Dr. Harrow bit his lip.

“Bear with me, I understand you don't like it, but this is sensitive and there's no room for any more possibility for problems, fear, or misunderstanding between us and the people we're about to meet,” he said. He walked to the front of the ship and looked at the controls. “Shall we fly in or walk?”

“It would probably scare the hell out of them if we flew,” Alex noted.

“Caminamos,” Taco agreed.

“Good, let's go,” Dr. Harrow said. He opened the door and hopped out, pistol in hand. After checking to make sure nothing was in sight, he aimed at a nearby tree and pulled the trigger. A burst of blue light flashed and a thin, smoking hole was torn out of the bark. Satisfied, he tucked the pistol into his belt and turned in the direction of the village.

They walked quickly and the buildings came into view after only a few minutes of navigating the short trees and thick, choking grass and underbrush.

“I can see them,” Dr. Harrow whispered.

To his amazement, but not surprise, the beings were shaped like people, but at the same time looked nothing like people.

Binky dipped and swerved as its pilot coaxed it to a groggy attempt at flight.

It was late evening local time, but it was early morning to Dr. Kaddix, and the tiredness of such an hour mixed with a jet-lag of full time-zone reversal to create an effect in him that he realized all too late that he probably should not have taken off while under the influence of.

Dusty and Kyme were apparently heavy sleepers and were still quietly dozing in their bunks, but Dr. Kaddix knew that if he kept up flying the way he was that it wouldn't last long.

He had decided to fly southeast and descend to the valley between the mountain chain that he had seen first and the enormous Olympus Mons of a mountain that he had wound up landing on the night before. The simple existence of such a geographical structure boggled him completely. It made absolutely no sense that something like that would form. A continental bulge such as that simply would not form. He also considered how it might be affecting the planet's rotation or if there was something countering it.

Finally he reached the point where the rock began to slope off sharply before leveling out as grassy hills. But there was something else that he hadn't seen before right out the window. He cautiously swooped down to what he saw with as much smoothness and grace as he could conjure up under his current condition and looked at it.

His first thought was that it wasn't natural. Natural rock formations aren't comprised of blocks. His next thought was that there was a river on the mountain leading to the unusual formation. Next, he observed that the river continued on top of the formation. This, he concluded, must also be unnatural, and was most likely related. After that, his brain processed that it must be tired and that more sleep might be a good thing. He had almost trodden back to his bunk when the word 'aqueduct' flashed into his consciousness. His eyes lit up and he sprinted back to the controls, taking them in his hands and steering Binky with a sudden, newfound vigor. He was following the aqueduct. He absolutely had to find out where it lead to.

The people there were obviously wonderful architects, and they probably knew a damn good bit about the local geology, which would save him a lot of trouble as well as allowing him to do some of Dr. Harrow's job at the same time.

“Son gatos,” Taco stated.

“They're felines,” Dr. Harrow repeated. “Damn, that's amazing.”

Ahead of them, the inhabitants were going about their daily routines, navigating a cluster of round buildings made of horizontally laid segments of wood with roofs of thatch in two slanted planes, leaving an opening covered by a net at the side. The locals were all completely covered in sleek fur of varying mixes of brown or gray and had heads resembling a rounded version of a housecat's. Dr. Harrow got the impression, though, that had they been shaved of their fur and viewed from the neck down they would have been indistinguishable from a human. From what he could see, at least.

“Indeed. It's simply incredible. Their shape, their natural, wild beauty,” Alex began.

“They've taken the same exact evolutionary steps in terms of shape as humans have,” Dr. Harrow said to himself. “Walking on two legs, opposable thumb, even our own relative size. Dr. Tro will have a ball when she sees this.”

“Anything else you notice?” Alex asked.

“From the looks of it,” Dr. Harrow said, “I believe they are farmers, most likely utilizing fertile soil at the bank of the river that we followed to them. This means they're probably more easygoing. The buildings look somewhat older, so this is probably a safe area and so hopefully these people won't be too high-strung when we approach them, though someone looking as different to them as we are will most likely elicit a strong reaction of some sort. We'll have to go in and see, be ready for anything.”

Taco and Alex nodded.

“Ready?”

“Si,”

“Yes,”

Dr. Harrow lifted himself from behind the thick, leafy shrub they had taken cover behind and stepped into view, none of them seemed to look in his direction, so he began to march forward calmly in the direction of the city, doing his best to appear relaxed and wear a pleasant expression on his face.

He knew that he would absolutely need a good poker face. He had a goal in mind, but if he looked like it, then they would read that, but not know the goal. As such, they would fill in the blank with the most terrifying answer they could imagine and act to counter that goal.

He moved forward, nearing closer and closer with every step. A few of the individuals spotted him and his crew, and reacted in a way most unexpected to Dr. Harrow.

They completely ignored them.

Only when Dr. Harrow had finally gotten to the center of the small cluster of buildings did one of them approach them, speaking casually in his own language.

“Taco,” Dr. Harrow said. He kept his eyes on the native that had approached him, as if he was speaking to him. “Teach this brave soul English, won't you?”

Taco nodded and strode casually up to the feline and gave him a light prod on the temple. The cat-person yowled in pain and fell over, causing the other inhabitants to run over, whispering to each other. When the cat got back to his feet, his bright, amber eyes went wide.

“I can...” he said quietly with a thick accent something like a cross between Italian and Russian. “I can speak your language.”

“You can,” Dr. Harrow replied. “This is good. Now we can talk and learn from each other.”

“Can you speak my language?” he asked, then repeated it in his unintelligible language.

“I'm afraid I can't,” Dr. Harrow answered. “Taco, would it be possible for you to learn his the same way you taught him?”

The cat backed away slightly at the mention, but Taco shook his head. “Yo necesitaria aprenderlo en el manero usual, menos que el puede usar los IdiomaBots, y dudo que ni un person de esta planeta puede hacerlo.”

“Pero puede ser unos, no es impossible” Alex suggested, humoring Taco's language.

“Seria posible usar los IdiomaBots para aprender un idioma que un otro sabe, pero yo no puedo hacer esto, es un funcion muy diferente de los bots y no estoy capaz de usarlo.”

“Why couldn't I understand him?” the feline asked. “Or her?”

“They were talking in another language entirely,” Dr. Harrow answered. “He simply said that he would be unable to learn your language the easy way that we taught it to you.”

“Are you gods?” the cat-person asked.

“No, we're just people. I am Dr. Harrow, this is Alex, and this is Taco,” Dr. Harrow answered, motioning to his crew as he introduced them.

“I am Raz,” the cat-person said tensely. “Why, may I ask, are you here? You're not from Euria, are you?”

“No, we're from Earth,” Dr. Harrow replied. “We're here as observers and ambassadors. Why did you think we were from Euria?”

“Because most of the people that look like you are from Euria,” Raz said. He began to call back to his fellow natives, causing most of them to settle into a calm observance, some with obvious intrigue on their faces as they watched the exchange.

“People that look like us?” Dr. Harrow repeated.

“Yes, without fur and with the funny heads you have.”

The three humans looked at each other briefly.

“Si, que cabezas comicas tenemos,” Taco said.

Dr. Harrow rolled his eyes at Taco's remark, then turned to Raz seriously. “These people like me, what are they like?”

“They usually come by means of the river,” Raz answered, scratching his head behind his ears. “I think they're lost for the most part. I've heard there is some trade with the land of Bolvia. Mostly they just ignore us and turn around, so we just ignore them.”

“Mostly?” Dr. Harrow asked.

“Sometimes they ask for directions,” Raz said shortly. “We think. But we can't understand them and they can't understand us, so we just point in the other direction and they leave anyway.”

Dr. Harrow considered this for several moments. “We were wondering if we might have your hospitality for a few days. We seek to learn your culture so that we can learn the customs of your people and be better able to befriend your country.”

Raj gave a short laugh. “Oh, you don't have to worry about that at all here. Harasa is interesting like that. Most of the country is desert. Just the borders are people like us, all the others are nomads of the desert. The capital is set at the furthest inland source of water, it serves as a trading hub. All sorts of different people come there and almost none of them are educated in the ways of mannerisms, so you won't be judged at all.”

“Maybe not,” Dr. Harrow replied. “But I'd like to make sure that we make an especially good impression on the people there. Would you mind translating for us there? I doubt Taco here touching their head without explanation would be a welcome gesture.”

Raj nodded. “I guess I could.”

“Unless, of course, someone else here would rather do that,” Dr. Harrow suggested.

“Well, is that all I'll be doing?” Raj asked.

“You'll probably be sticking around with us as we go from country to country trying to meet and ally ourselves with everyone,” Dr. Harrow said.

“Oh, that sounds like...” Raj swelled with excitement. “Was born and raised on this farm village and I've been wanting to go away ever since I was a lad. You really mean you'd do that for me?”

Dr. Harrow smiled. “Of course. Would anyone else here like to have that offer extended to them as well?”

Raj shook his head. “Nah, they think I'm nuts to want to leave this place. They keep telling me it's safe and has everything they need nearby, what more could I want.... but it's so damn boring, I think they must be insane to want to stay.”

Dr. Harrow gave a polite nod. “Alright, get anything you'll want to take with you and meet us back out here as fast as you can. We'll lead you to our...” he froze as he pondered whether or not to attempt to describe the Lovable Dictator to Raj. “You'll see what we have, but we'll lead you to it.”

Dan gave a slow nod of his head as Alonso finished explaining the situation to him.

“You couldn't tell anyone ahead of time? Not even us? Not even me?”

“You have to understand, sir-”

“Call me Dan.”

Alonso smiled a bit and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He had long since stopped crying, but his eyes were still swollen and watery. “Thanks Dan. It's just that we couldn't tell anyone. Not even you, and that would be even if we could get you in private.”

“Why not?” Dan asked.

“Even if I believed it were theoretically possible to arrange a meeting with the president of the United States without someone listening in, people would know about the meeting. They would have bombard you with questions and disgraced you if you didn't betray us.”

Dan was impressed by the thoughtfulness displayed. “Either I'd be humiliated and probably impeached, or the land-grab that we were so dearly hoping to avoid.”

Dan nodded. “About your operative that got killed,” he said.

“Samuel. He was a damn good man,” Alonso said as his eyes began to water anew. “His job was basically to keep any signs of us from being brought to attention as well as picking up any news of us being discovered.”

“Why was he killed?” Dan asked.

“He probably got in the way too much for someone who had other ideas,” Alonso answered with a sigh.

“What do you think his death means?” Dan asked.

“Probably that the land grab is going to happen anyway, but that there will be only one group in it instead of several different ones all competing.”

Dan nodded gravely. “Do you know who that could be?”

Alonso shook his head. “Someone who knew what he was doing. Someone who knew who we are and what we were doing. But I don't know who that could be.

“So you have no idea who killed him?” Dan asked.

Alonso shook his head. “No, you would probably know better than I would.” He paused. “I'd like to ask you a question. Who brought us to your attention?”

Dan thought back to the meeting. He remembered Samuel there. He recalled that it was one of the many bureaucrats that had brought the subject up. He couldn't even think of the person's name or even if he'd ever learned it at all, but he recalled that there had been an official there with distinct red hair that had taken over when Samuel had tried to brush away the concerns.

“There was one person that I suspect,” Dan said as soon as the realization hit him. “I don't know his name, but he was the one that I think called the satellite photographs of Dengris to our attention. He was very vocal about it.”

Alonso nodded gravely.

“He had red hair. I'd even say it was blood red.”

Alonso's jaw clenched and his eyes sunk as an expression of pained acceptance spread across his face.

“What is it?” Dan asked concernedly.

Alonso shook his head. “I don't know if I can-”

“You can trust me not to tell anyone without asking you first,” Dan insisted. “And I've gotten enough from this meeting to fend off any questions. Nobody would be the wiser about me knowing anything at all.”

Alonso considered this for a few moments.

“If it's something of global or bi-global importance,” Dan pressed, “I absolutely have to know.”

Alonso shook his head. “All I can say is that there are some things even bigger than TimeSpace, and I think it's one of them that is going to act.”

“Like what?” Dan asked. “Please, I need to be informed.”

Alonso shook his head. “You should be going now. It's getting close to thirty minutes, and I don't think either of us want so much as a dent in the Layer Cake now that you know what all it's doing for us. We'll be having a candlelight vigil for Samuel tonight, you are invited to come and pay your respects, but for now, I must ask you to leave.”

Dan gave a sigh and nodded, then got to his feet and headed toward the elevator, leaving Alonso slumped back in his chair, staring at the morning sky in disbelief.

“Iro...” he whispered to himself when Dan was behind the closed elevator doors. “How could you be doing this...”

After endless fussing and arguing, Dr. Tro and Chase were finally convinced to rest in their bunks. Given that they had both been awake for nearly a full twenty or so hours, however, they did not give much of a fight once they actually got to their bunks.

Buck, being extra cautious, sat in his bunk the whole time, having decided that it might have been safer if he stayed awake and watched over Dr. Tro and Chase. He couldn't think of anything that could possibly happen, but he figured that he had just set his sleep cycle completely opposite to theirs that he might as well.

By then it was a few hours past midnight. Already the stars were coming out. Buck thought about them as he looked up out the window. They sky was peeking through the forest canopy, with specks of light and dark visible among the silhouettes of the thick, round leaves.

“Those are the same stars we see on Earth,” Buck said quietly to himself.

“Indeed, they are.”

“Same formation we would have seen two weeks ago, except for the planets.”

“Indeed.”

“I don't think the difference is anything major though.”

“No.”

Buck turned around slowly to where the voice was coming from. It was from the bunks, but of the four there, only Dr. Tro and Chase's were occupied.

Buck looked closer at the fourth bunk and began to notice the telltale signs. A huge blind spot in his vision, things fading in and out of his recognition. Only someone who knew these signs and was looking for them would have noticed them.

“You can stop hiding, Zant,” he said.

Almost instantly the blind spot reappeared as Zant, a small, thin man with skin just paler than what would be thought natural, low brows that shadowed his eyes, and a sleek, bald head that managed not to shine at all.

“You haven't said a word to anyone this whole trip so far,” Buck said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “I'm sure Dr. Tro or Chase would like to meet you.”

Zant grunted in reply, and then his form vanished into a blind spot again.

“Maybe, but would I have liked to meet them?”

“You'll see when you actually try. They're good people, I swear. Dr. Harrow seems to be a decent man as well.”

Zant grumbled. “I didn't like the man. He's why I switched with Alex. I didn't want to fly under him.”

“Why not?”

“For one, he doesn't let his guard down when he's alone,” Zant replied darkly. “That's damn unnatural. He can't be right.”

“Oh for Pete's sake,” Buck sighed. “You didn't spy on them in their rooms, did you?”

“I'm not spying, not snooping,” Zant replied. “That would imply I was out for personal gain or curiosity. No, I was there to observe because I needed to know who I was flying under.”

“Well just talk to him, then!” Buck said exhasperatedly. He caught himself just after he said that, and noted to himself to keep his voice below a set decibel level for Dr. Tro's and Chase's sake.

“I already told you, I don't trust him. People lie. You can only rely on what you actually see, not the masks they wear when they know you're there.”

Buck shook his head. “I give up. I've had this argument with you a thousand times and never won once, you just go ahead and think that way.”

“You know,” Zant continued casually. “Dr. Kaddix isn't as much of a dolt as he'd like us to think he is. Alonso just might be right about him, despite what his fellow captains think.”

“Who all have you been spying on?” Buck snapped.

“If you're more interested in imposing your silly notions of privacy or ridiculous idea that people are basically good than the information I have to offer, then I'll trouble you no more.”

The blind spot began to shift, but Buck couldn't follow it. Zant was moving, and he couldn't tell where he was going, but it was an unmistakable sign that the conversation was over.

Buck cursed quietly to himself and looked back up at the stars.

“I'm back!” Raj chirped enthusiastically as he caught up to Dr. Harrow, Taco, and Alex.

“Good,” Dr. Harrow called back. He looked at what Raj had carried back, which amounted to some sort of weapon on his hip and a small sack over his shoulder. “Would you mind showing us what you're taking with you?”

“Just some clothes, my sword, some things I couldn't part with,” Raj replied quickly.

“That's good,” Dr. Harrow said. “May I see?”

Raj looked around quickly. His fellow inhabitants of his village were all outside their huts, staring at him with varying expressions ranging from awe to disbelief to mild annoyance.

“Can it wait until we're away from them?” he asked quietly, motioning subtly over his shoulder.

“If you mean you have something that's contraband or immoral with you,” Dr. Harrow said suspiciously.

“No, no no no,” Raj said hurriedly. “Just that...”

Dr. Harrow decided not to press it for the time being. “We'll look at it when we're away from them, but just so you know, the eyes of our world are upon us, so if you have anything in that sack of yours that would make us look bad, we're going to have to discard it before we move on. Understood?”

Raj nodded slowly.

Dr. Harrow gave a nod, knowing the discussion had met its close. “Alright, that just leaves you to say goodbye to everyone and then we're off.”

“When will I see them again?” Raj asked tensely.

“I don't know,” Dr. Harrow answered. “If you're lucky, then after a week or a month or however it takes them to relieve us all of our duties, then you'll be able to go back whenever you like.”

“And if I don't want to come back after that?” Raj asked.

“I guess nobody would make you,” Dr. Harrow said.

Raj's face lit up and he turned around and shouted something back to his family, friends, and neighbors.

Dr. Harrow couldn't understand a word that he had said, but from what he could figure out it most probably meant something along the lines of “So long, suckers!”

They walked back to the ship, Raj with a spring in his step.

“So, where are we going first?”

“Probably the capital of Harasa,” Dr. Harrow replied.

“Oh, good,” Raj replied. “Will we go by the river or cut across?”

“Which way is less likely to get us lost?” Dr. Harrow asked.

“Well, if you go by the river, you can't miss it, but it will take a few days walking.”

“River, then,” Dr. Harrow replied. “And no, it won't.”

“Why not, you can't possibly be thinking of running that distance in this heat-” Raj began, then froze when he saw the Lovable Dictator parked just behind a cluster of trees. “What is that?”

“It's like a ship for water,” Alex spoke up. “Except it goes through the air.”

“How'd you make it light enough to do that?” Raj asked incredulously.

“We'll explain later,” Dr. Harrow assured. “But now, I'll have to ask you to show us what all you're planning to take on board.”

Raj nodded, still staring in awe of the Lovable Dictator, and handed his sack to Alex, who put it down gently on the ground and opened it up.

“Clothes,” shi began listing off as she dug through. “Looks like some kind of food here. Some kind of currency in a smaller pouch here. This thing here looks like a carving of some sort,”

“It's an... um.... you don't have a name for it, but it's a kind of animal that's around,” Raj noted.

“We'll show it to Dr. Tro,” Dr. Harrow said. “And what is that?”

Alex pulled out a brightly colored object from Raj's sack. On closer inspection, Dr. Harrow saw it had limbs, a body, a head, and a tail. It looked like a house cat back on Earth.

“Umm...” Raj said uncertainly. “That.... that would be Nebbs.” He snatched the stuffed toy away from Alex and hid it behind his back.

Dr. Harrow exchanged glances with Alex and Taco.

“You're... you're not going to make me throw him away, are you?” Raj asked tensely.

“How old are you?” Dr. Harrow asked.

“Twenty one,” Raj replied hesitantly. “You won't, will you?”

“I'm assuming that Nebbs is the reason you didn't want us searching through your belongings while we were at camp.”

Raj nodded sheepishly.

“Alex, is there anything else in there?”

Alex shook hir head. “Nope, just clothes.”

Dr. Harrow smiled and waved towards the ship. “Nothing I'll make you leave behind, come on aboard and guide us on to your capital.

Raj smiled broadly in relief and ran over to the Lovable Dictator. Then he climbed on top of it.

“I'm ready to go!” he shouted with Nebbs in his hand. “Climb up here with me and we can remove the anchor.”

Dr. Kaddix was in complete disbelief of how long it finally took him to follow the aqueduct to a city. It was a fairly tall aqueduct at the start and gently sloping, stretching what he estimated to be three hundred miles before meeting up with an extremely large city.

He stayed just far enough away so that he was out of sight and began yelling to his crew.

He shouted for nearly a minute before Kyme and Dusty each gave a groan and trudged up to the cockpit.

“Yeah, wha's hollerin' for?” Dusty asked groggily.

“Well, look at what we're right above!” Dr. Kaddix answered, pointing to the aqueduct. “And where it leads to!”

Kyme brightened up as she spotted the city. “Ooh, think they'll have sake there?”

“Freaking look at the architecture!” Dr. Kaddix barked frustratedly. “And the rocks around here must be damn strong to support all this.”

“We can get a beer or something and then they can help us get rock samples from the mountainside,” Dusty suggested.

“No, the rocks here are obviously a different kind, they're a whole different color. The mountains look like they're probably some kind of-”

“The locals will probably know,” Dusty suggested. “I say we go meet them, and listen to their expertise.”

“And get some booze,” Kyme added.

“Are you people insane?!” Dr. Kaddix fumed. “If I'm correct, this whole continent is one giant shield volcano, and one the size of a continent is a bigger discovery than anything I could ever even think of, and all you want to do is get booze?”

“Well, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere,” Kyme said quietly. “Unless someone has a faith the size of a whole mustard jar.”

Dr. Kaddix rolled his eyes.

“I think what she means,” Dusty said quietly, “Is that we've got plenty of time to work, and that it would probably be most helpful if we met with the locals for their expertise. They've been living right next to these things, they could probably show us things that we would simply miss on our own.”

“Fine,” Dr. Kaddix barked. “We'll go get booze and grab someone who knows what he's doing and then we're right back out here and then we're going to do actual work, right?”

“I can plug in the rock tumbler and make some pretty jewelery,” Kyme suggested.

“Gods help us,” Dr. Kaddix muttered to himself as he guided Binky towards the city.

“There it is!” Raj shouted. “There!”

The Lovable Dictator swept downward and came to a gentle landing just outside the city. The door opened and Raj dashed out.

Then he dashed back in to put Nebbs back.

He emerged a few moments later with Dr. Harrow, Taco, and Alex alongside him as they headed toward the city. A few individuals had seen them and had rushed over to the city to see what the flying device was.

“Raj, can you take us straight to whoever is in charge?” Dr. Harrow asked quickly.

As they rounded the next corner a few cat-people wearing what was distinctively armor and brandishing what were distinctively weapons appeared, calling to them while maintaining a respectful distance and trying to look both non-threatening and formidable at the same time.

“Nope, never been here before, but those fellows seem to want to lead us to there anyway.”

“Tell them we're coming without a fight,” Dr. Harrow said, sensing them being summoned.

“Should I emphasize that we could squish them with the power of our flying machine or-”

“Just do it please, Raj,” Dr. Harrow said.

Raj began shouting back to the guards, who began leading the way to the center of the city. After strolling past a great many buildings and walking for some ways, the guards finally stopped in front of a very large, very ornate, very important-looking building and waved Dr. Harrow and his party inside.

They hurried in and all looked around for where they were supposed to go when a group of guards clad and armed similar to those outside appeared, waving up a set of stairs to the side. Once at the top, they were confronted with the sight of an ornately decorated cat-person with short black and white fur, a winding tail, dressed in a sweeping robe and what appeared to be as much gold and jewelery that could fit on his thick arms and his neck.

“Should we bow or anything?” Dr. Harrow asked Raj.

“I dunno, should we?” Raj asked.

“It's your job to know all this for us!” Dr. Harrow hissed. “Say hello to him.”

Raj called out a greeting, being very loud and articulating to the best of his ability. The apparent leader gave a similar response and a wave of a thoroughly bejeweled arm. Dr. Harrow paid close attention to the outstretched hand and noticed that it was completely devoid of fur on the palm side and was flat as his, most likely with prints like his for grip, but it had areas of different coloration to give the resemblance of paw pads like those of house cats. This struck him as rather odd, but he couldn't put his finger on why it had that effect on him.

“He said hello back,” Raj said after a few minutes of silence.

Dr. Harrow sighed. “Taco, are you sure you can't upload English into his brain from a distance? I don't think he'd react kindly to you going up to him right now, but I'd vastly prefer it to our translator.”

“Si, teoricamente, pero seria dificilisimo. Puedo intentarlo ahora si quieres.”

“Yes, do that. What could go wrong?”

“Si atempto hacerlo demasiado rapidamente, puede hacer el loco. El solo cosa importante es que establezco un connecion a el parte del cerebro que controla los idiomas. Cuando me pone el mano a la cabeza me permite hacerlo instantamente, pero puede hacerlo por distancia si me digas suficiente tiempo.”

“Good, go ahead and start,” Dr. Harrow said.

“What'd he say?” Raj asked.

“He said he can teach this person English from afar, but it'll take some time. In the meantime,” Dr. Harrow said, “Tell him that we are from Earth and that we wish to befriend him and his people.”

Raj nodded and called out a string of unintelligible words to the host, who responded back in Raj's language again.

“He said that a lot of drunken Euricans say that,” Raj said exhasperatedly. “Though, he did admit that you sound sober and don't seem quite like them somehow.”

“Tell him his guards outside have witnessed our flying ship.”

“No they didn't,” Raj said. “They told me they were only asking us to follow them because they got wind of some racket and we looked suspicious.”

“That would have been wonderful information to have at the time,” Dr. Harrow noted with a subtle hint of frustration. “Tell him we have a flying ship then and that we can show it to him.”

Raj nodded and complied. The leader gave a loud, hearty laugh and then spoke again.

“He says he changed his mind,” Raj translated. “He says you're drunk for sure.”

Dr. Harrow rolled his eyes.

“Tell him that our homeland has wonders beyond his comprehension and that if he allies with us then he will be granted access to trade for whatever he would like.”

Raj hurriedly translated, to which the leader responded with an obvious air of someone talking to an inferior.

Raj gave a cough, then put on a pained look as he forced himself to translate. “He said he doesn't think any of that interests him, but that right now he'd be willing to trade a jug of a local sort of alcoholic beverage for a good time with the she-Eurican.”

Alex rolled hir eyes.

“Taco, how much longer on-”

“Yo lo tengo!” Taco shouted. A noise like a spark echoed throughout the great room and the leader fell to the floor yowling in pain. He shouted something to his guards; Raj drew his sword and the guards began to charge towards them, which made it very easy for Dr. Harrow to guess what he had shouted. He whipped his pistol out of his inside coat pocket and aimed carefully for one of the advancing guards' legs and pulled the trigger.

The gun fired without recoil, making it feel cold and lifeless even as it warmed to the touch with the discharge of energy. A thin beam pierced from the tip into the leg that he had aimed at, causing the victim to fall forward and the others to halt instantly and stare in horror.

“Call them off!” Dr. Harrow shouted. “Taco, please tell me you taught him English.”

“Yo quise ensenarlo espanol, pero lo ensene ingles.”

“Gracias,” Dr. Harrow said shortly.

The chief shakily got to his feet and examined his guests and the fallen guard.

“Maybe you people aren't drunk after all...”

Dr. Harrow lowered his pistol, turned, and gave a short, polite bow. “Greetings, again. I am Dr. Harrow, this is Raj, Taco, and Alex.”

“I am Jerund. apologize for not taking you seriously,” he said quietly. “You must understand though, in this situation meetings such as this are rarely of importance and are most often drunken encounters.”

“We accept your apology for that,” Dr. Harrow said quickly.

“I'd like you to apologize for your most unwelcome advance on my person,” Alex added forcefully.

“You're right,” Jerund said with a sheepish grin. “I guess now you command greater power than I do, so it should be you degrading me by trying to buy my body with a jug of spirits.”

Alex rolled hir eyes and folder hir arms.

“I jest,” Jerund added, more sheepishly still. “But returning to the subject at hand, I am now enlightened that you are to be taken seriously. I would be truly honored and glorified to ally myself and my peoples with you.”

Dr. Harrow smiled.

“What would you ask of us?” Jerund asked.

“Only your friendship.”

Jerund laughed heartily. “That, my good sir, is a given. I shall swear to you much more. I swear to lay down my life and to send my entire army if need be to protect you from any and all opposition you meet.”

Dr. Harrow frowned slightly at this. “That won't be at all necessary. A situation like that shouldn't arise in the first place. If any sort of country does not wish to ally themselves with us, we can simply leave them alone. No conflict should take place.”

Jerund smiled. “Then would you take the promise anyway, even if we never actually did have to go through with it?”

Dr. Harrow shook his head. “Actually, it makes me uneasy at the thought.”

“I insist,” Jerund said. “I have full faith that if you are in need of aide that we would be fighting the good fight to be at your side.”

“Just a minute ago you were convinced that we were drunken idiots,” Dr. Harrow said quickly. He looked to the guards. They had not moved in the least from where they were, though most of them were trembling. The guard he had shot was bleeding into a small puddle of blood underneath his leg.

Alex noticed Dr. Harrow's gaze drifting to the wounded soldier. Shi walked over to him, kneeled down, and held her hand just in front of the wound, which healed before their eyes, including his short fur regrown slowly as they all watched.

“I have no reason to doubt that anyone that didn't deserve fighting against to begin with would put themselves against you,” Jerund said.

Dr. Harrow nodded respectfully. His eye was fixed on where the guard's wound had been, even though it had healed, he had stood up, and he was now talking happily with his fellow guards and Jerund.

After the cat-people in the room had talked for a while, Jerund spoke up in English again. “My new friends, I am pleased to announce a feast to celebrate the newly forged alliance with the magical people's of Earth.”

“The United States of America,” Dr. Harrow corrected quickly. “So far, at least, we're only representing that one country,” he added, wondering if he really had the authority to do even that.

“Well then, from what I've seen and learned even just now, that's still enough reason to celebrate,” Jerund replied. “Would you honor us at this feast I shall hold?”

Dr. Harrow paused. “I actually think we should get going. I'm sure there are still a great many lands that we must ally ourselves with as well.”

“What is the rush?” Jerund asked.

Dr. Harrow bit his lip. “I'm not sure.”

“I see no reason yet that you can't stay with us a little longer-”

“No, I really must insist that we get going,” Dr. Harrow said quickly. “Hay un medio en que podemos mantener contacto con ellos cuando volamos a otra destinacion?” he asked his crew.

“No que yo puedo creer de,” Taco replied.

“Yo tampoco,” Alex replied.

Dr. Harrow nodded grimly as his crew informed him that there was likely no available way to maintain contact with the newly allied country. Part of him began to wonder what the point of the meeting had been if the most likely result was all contact vanishing once again.

“Tenemos beacons,” Taco suggested. “Podemos plantar un y sabiamos donde ese ciudad es.”

Dr. Harrow nodded. “Jerund, we shall plant a device here that will allow us to find you later, and we will reunite some other time.”

Jerund nodded and smiled. He snapped his fingers and a servant appeared. He whispered something to the newly appeared servant, who dashed off quickly. “If you truly insist. My people will not believe me right away without seeing you, but I have seen with my own eyes and they will listen to what I say, and that is enough for now. At the very least, allow me to equip the fellow Astican among you with the fine gear normally given only to the honor guards here.”

The servant reappeared with a folded suit of the distinctive mail armor with a vibrantly colored spear, shining metal sword in a leather sheat, and an ornate helmet laid across it.

“No complaints here,” Raj said, admiring the armor and arms.

“And allow me to send you with a jug of our finest brew. And fear not, I shall ask nothing of it,” Jerund said with a wink toward Alex.

Dr. Harrow was uncomfortably aware of his complete lack of gift to present to Jerund or his people. “Thank you, it is quite generous of you.”

Jerund nodded and bowed politely. “I guess this is goodbye for now. Good luck until we meet again. Your friends shall be my allies. Your enemy shall be my nemesis.”