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.Trek Down	By : keithcompany Category: Star Trek > The Next Generation Views: 4796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, settings or props of the Star Trek universe. I make no profit from this fanfic.

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More disclaimer: This work is my own. Do not repost this story beyond the limits of the Fair Use standards of Copyright Law (quotes, examples, 'you gotta read this' excerpts, the usual).

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I helped push the canoe onto the beach. We'd just gotten it above the double tide line when one of the kids screamed. I had a spear in my hand in seconds and was scanning the beach for danger.
A second after everyone else, I noticed the tribe was looking up into the sky. There were lights. Bursts of red and green flashed above the clouds, like lightning made of strange fire.
We watched for a while. As War Master I kept an eye on the approaches to the village. And noted which of the young men also did. More warmen were always useful.
"Are the gods fighting?" one of the little ones asked.
"No," Jekk said. "Gods fight by throwing whales at each other." Her eyes got wide, but she looked less worried.
About dinner time, the lights stopped, or at least the source had moved . We watched for a while longer, but there was no excitement. Everyone broke up and went on to their tasks.
Chief Tagan asked Jekk if there was anything like it before. The Lore Master said he'd check the sticks but couldn't remember anything.
We ate, sang the sun to sleep and watched the first moon rise. No one went to their hammocks. We talked about lights in the sky for a long while.
The kids were almost all asleep by the time we saw something else. This time, more eyes were scanning the sky. It was a bright, burning light, steady this time. A finger of one of the gods drew fire like the moon was spitting it across the world.
I thought it was headed for the top of the world, then it started to sway and spiral. Then the line got very small. The fire became a dot.
"It's headed for us," Lore said.
"Caves," the Chief replied. Women and first-time fathers gathered the children and food. The Old gathered food and nets. Lore led everyone to the sanctuaries while I prepared the young men.
The light was small for a long while, then it veered swiftly to our left. The voice of the volcano god shouted at the world and tried to break it in half. Someone near me was screaming like a girl as I tumbled across the sand.
Then I was up and running. Gaddakk came with me. He was the young man most likely to become the next Lore Master. He was also in good enough shape to be War Master.
While the others were still sorting themselves out we were out of sight of the village.
The fire had hit a mile or so up the beach. There was a streak of fire that started at the edge of the water and ran into the jungle. I thought of jumping the line, so we could follow it on both sides.
I checked when I saw how wide the fire path was. I couldn't jump that far and the sand was burnt and glowing in the dark. As it hit the slope of the nearest mountain it climbed up the slope, a groove dug out of the dirt like a finger dragged through wet sand.
The line led us straight up the side of the mountain. There was a box at the top. A big glowing box nestled in a huge pile of dirt that it had pushed before it.
"What the fire is that?" I muttered. The thing was about the size of my hut. I got close and reached towards it.
"I wouldn't," Gaddakk said, at the same time I felt the heat coming off of it. Instead I tapped it with my spear. It sounded like the one bowl the Chief owned.
"Trader stone," I said.
"It's not exactly stone," Gaddakk said. The inability to let a mistake pass, even in such circumstances, was how I knew he'd be the next Lore Master. "They take rocks and smelt them, takes great heat." He looked at the still-bright path behind it. "I wonder if a volcano spit it out? Ever see the rocks they fling into the air?"
"No and neither have you," I said. We'd both heard Jekk's stories.
"I don't… Do you smell something?" Green fire came out of the back of the box. Or the front, maybe. It was the side pointing back towards the water.
I pushed Gaddakk behind me. "We should get away from this. It could be bad," he said. I didn't quite disagree.
"Can we tell the Chief that it's safe to come out of the caves?" I asked. Before he could answer, the box opened. A little spot in the side popped into the air and fell to the ground. A small figure moved in the opening, silhouetted against strange lights behind her.
I realized the box was hollow and burning inside at the same time I realized I was looking at the figure of a child.
"Jump!" I shouted, sliding down the side of the berm. She hesitated. Sparks flew into the air from fire only knew where. She jumped and I caught her.
Gaddakk lowered his spear and pulled us up. The child was babbling something I couldn't understand. I put her down and looked back at the sparks. The kid, who came up to the middle of my thigh, pointed at the box and shouted louder.
"What's she saying?" I asked. Gaddakk shook his head. Big sparks popped into the air. The girl slapped our legs and ran in the direction of the beach.
"She says run like fire," Gaddakk said. We turned to follow her. She had paused on a slight ridge and looked back at us, beckoning. When she saw us coming she turned to go on. She was fast, but those legs were so tiny. We caught up quickly and I scooped her into my arms.
We were almost to the beach when a whistling noise sounded behind us. The kid screamed. I knocked Gaddakk to the ground and fell beside him. We both covered the kid as the world flashed white.
It was odd. I know my eyes were shut tight but the light was so bright I could still see it.
Burnt bits of trees and dirt fell on and around us for quite a while. I was curled around the girl and my friend, blind in the aftermath. "Wanna get up?" I asked.
"Not until I finish peeing my pants," Gaddakk said.
"Uh," I grunted. When I could see again, the dirt-rain had stopped. I stood and helped my partner up. The girl had passed out. I carried her back to the village.
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Jekk took the girl to his hut when we got back. We just walked into the lagoon and sank into the water. Our clothes were ruined so we just ripped them free. I grabbed a long-vine and started weaving a new pair. Gaddakk waited for his sister to bring him a replacement.
The village showed up to ask what had happened. Telling that tale was Gaddakk's job. Once I was dressed, I went to my hut and fell into a deep sleep.
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I was outside the Lore hut at breakfast. Lore wives were treating the child. Gaddakk had led a team of his students up to see if anything was left of the box. Lore himself was sitting at his table looking over the box child's clothing. It was torn beyond use, but he still found it compelling.
The basic shape had been much like ours, two arms and two legs. They had extended the length of the limbs, though. And the weave was fantastically small. I wasn't sure if even dry-spiders could make cloth this fine.
She stepped into view while I was looking over the little piece of jewelry that we'd found. She blinked at the sunlight as I got my first good look at her.
She stood about as tall as a tenth-season child. Her black hair framed a face that did and didn't look familiar. Her eyes were a bit too small, her mouth too wide, that sort of thing. She was slender, like any of our kids, but her muscles were better formed than I'd have expected. And while her breasts were small, they were much more defined than any of our kids would have.
She limped slightly as she walked over to the table. There were a few burns here and there on her too-pale skin. I was wondering how to introduce myself, but she was looking at me closely. When she reached the table, she leaned on the bench for a second, then pointed at me. "Jump!" she yelled.
"What was that for?" Jekk asked.
"That was the first thing I said to her last night." I figured she recognized me from the box boom. I nodded and smiled at her. She gave a big smile in return. Nodding and smiling seemed to mean the same things in her land as they did here.
Lore took her into his lap gave her a once-over. She suffered through his attention, finally sliding down to the ground.
"She's okay, I suppose," he said. "Very good for someone that got blasted across the ocean, in fact. Her body is very mature in form for such a young child. Evidently the tribe she comes from ages rapidly."
"Is there any chance she's actually mature?" I asked.
"No," he barked. "Tribes get shorter the farther south you go, but the shortest of them are still…" He held his hand at about the middle of his rib cage. "This high. She's a child." Then he slid the remains of her clothes over and went to find Gaddakk.
She said something urgent at the sight of her clothing and fished through it. She didn't seem upset that it was torn, but she did look sad when she finished sorting it out.
"Ah!" I said and offered her the jewelry. She smiled at me. That's when I noticed her nose. Little lines crossed it, almost looking like Saffi initiation scars. "Were those done to you as reward or punishment, little one?" I mused.
She shook her head and walked, stiffly, to the edge of the water. Several of us watched her tap her gold fetish and speak. It sounded like she called on a god or a spirit, one named, "Antwerp Rise."
After a while of this, she shook her head, lowered the object and looked around at us expectantly. "Was that her tribe?" one of the village kids asked as she walked back to the table.
"Don't know." I lifted her up to sit on the top of the table, next to my seat. Then I tapped my chest. "Da'an," I told her. She pointed at me and said, "Dawn."
"Da'an," I repeated.
"Dann."
"Da'an."
"Deann."
"Da'an."
"Dawan."
"Close enough," I finally said, but she kept on. It seemed important to her to get my name right. When she finally had a good grip on that, I gestured to indicate the whole village. "Tocanni."
For some reason she learned that name almost instantly. Then she pointed at every individual in sight. "Tocanni?" I smiled and nodded. Then she pointed at me. "Da'an Tocanni?"
"Tocanni Da'an," I corrected.
"She's quick," my young cousin said. I nodded.
"Let's see how quick." I pointed at me, at him and at her. "Tocanni, Tocanni…..?" I let my voice drop off. She smiled and responded, tapping her own chest. I didn’t recognize her tribe, but her name came through clearly.
"Sharf Leet Lunar Gas," she said.
"Bwahahaha!"
"Shut up!" I told the youngster.
"But she said her name is Moon Fart!"
"Shut up. I'm sure it's a coincidence. Maybe your name means something bad in her language."
"What's wrong with my name?" he asked, suddenly somber. I waved him off and he ran to the lagoon.
"Never mind Hassface," I told her. "But maybe we'll just stick to Lunar."
"Lunar Gas," she replied.
"Lunar," I insisted. I looked up at the sky. The smaller moon was just over the horizon. I pointed. "Lunar." I pointed at her. "Lunar."
Lunar smiled at that. Then she stood on the table. She shaded her eyes with her hands and made a big show of looking around. "Gas?" she asked. "Gas?"
I thought it over for a second. It was one of those words that are difficult to express when you're just learning the language. Then it occurred to me. I held out my hand. "Pull my wrist," I said.
She looked at it quizzically and reached out.
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Luna forgave me after a bit, but at least she stopped insisting on the 'gas' part of her name. She climbed down from the table, clutching her ruined clothes and looking around.
I figured she wanted to see if anything was left of her box. After that…lightning blast or whatever had happened I hadn't wanted to go back up there. But I could see her interest. It might have been the only way she could get home.
First, though, I grabbed a vine off a handy tree and wove her a net bag for her belongings. She seemed thankful as she put her stuff in it. Then she slung it over her shoulder and looked up at me.
"Alright, alright. Let me get my spear." My best spear was up on the mountain somewhere. I ducked into my hut and grabbed a spare.
I picked Luna up and put her on my shoulder. She kicked and fussed so I lowered her to the ground. "It's a long walk, Luna," I said, knowing she couldn't understand me or my gestures. "Long," I said, pointing in the distance. "And you fell across the sky yesterday." Then I started hiking.
We weren't halfway to the groove before she was struggling to keep up. I offered her my hand once more. She nodded and I lifted her up.
She got excited when she saw the mark of her passing. The glow had faded, but the channel still gave off a lot of heat. I carried her up the path we'd taken down the mountain just a few hours before.
When I got to the last ridge, I was shocked. I stood and stared as Luna slid down to the ground. The berm had fused like rough porcelain. Like a pot thrown by a baby god. The vegetation around it was all burnt to a crisp and the ground blackened. I looked down to where I stood while Luna limped to the remains of the wreckage.
Right where she'd paused, I think, the ground had an odd shadow. I realized that the bush she'd stood beside was missing.
Gaddakk came out of the woods while I stood there. "Scary stuff, huh? I've got guys combing the woods for any parts. Haven't found any yet."
"Right here," I said. "She stood right here and waved us to come after her."
"She was running. Probably knew it was going to…do what it did. Burn. Burn enthusiastically."
"But this was still in the danger zone." I looked up at him. "If you knew that was going to happen, would you stop anywhere before you were safe?"
"For you," he said. "Chief. Any of the young." He blushed. "And Shalee."
"Yeah. But for total strangers?" I went to catch up with my charge. Less and less did I believe she was a child.
Nothing in the blackened hulk caught my eye. Luna was diligent in searching through it, but came away empty handed. And quite dirty. The sun was low in the sky when she finally allowed me to lead her away from the wreck.
Gaddakk and his ilk had left long before. I stayed to keep an eye on her. When she came out of the box the last time, I picked her up and headed for a stream I knew. The pool was clear of predators, so it was safe for bathing. I set Luna down and stripped. She watched until I waded into the water.
She started stripping once I sank and started wiping off the ashes. I glanced at her a time or two. She was definitely not a child, if you ignored her height. But I couldn't, not just yet. I turned around concentrated on getting my hair to stop itching.
The water took some of the weight off of her wounded limb and she was a bit more lively. She splashed around, enjoying the water. I think she got clean mostly as a side effect of swimming.
Finally I climbed out and dressed. She pouted for a second, then offered me her hand. I lifted her to the shore and handed her clothes over.
She tried to walk by herself, but flagged almost immediately. I carried her like the child she appeared, her head against my shoulder.
Luna watched from the edge of the circle as we sang down the sun. When we spread out to our huts I saw her make her prayers to Antwerp Rise. Lore wife number one took her by the hand and led her to the Lore hut for sleep.
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I was sitting on the beach when the sun rose. Luna slipped out of the hut and came to sit beside me. We watched the waves for a while.
Wife One's voice came to us, as she started to wake her brood. Luna shuddered. "You know," I said, "I had to sleep in that hut after a shark attack. I almost took a rock to her head. Yip, yip, yip."
"Yeep, yeep," she said with a smile. I waved at Seea as she came out of the hut. She snuck back inside and got Luna's mesh net.
"Come on," I said. Inside my own hut, I hung her bag next to my guest hammock. She leapt up and hugged my leg. "Yeah, yeah, love me forever."
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Luna was a good name for our guest. The gods made the moons to shepherd the night, but they were curious and kept peeping at the day. Luna was all over the village, watching everything anyone did.
She watched the fishermen go out, the wives stake the catch and take down yesterday's dried fish, Lore teaching his students, and the girls weaving nets.
Gaddakk and I were watching her watch the kids fish in the lagoon. "You adopting her?"
"I dunno," I said. "Someone probably has to." I ran a finger across my spear point, trying to decide if I wanted to go to the trouble of making a new one. "Of course, technically, I don't think she's of the age to adopt."
"Yeah, yeah. Fully grown and knee high." He stood and wandered towards the shore.
Just then a high pitched scream sounded from the tree line. We ran towards it. A little girl, Queli, was up on the top branch. "How did she get that high?" I muttered.
"Someone's going to have to climb up and get her," Chief said. He was looking at me, of course.
"Chief, I'm too big to get that high. The branches won't support me."
"Big as you are, I figure you'll bring the tree down where she can just jump."
"Yeah, sure," I said. I looked the tree over, trying to figure the best path up. The trees at the edge of the jungle grew in the shape of a doggk shell. The center bole was closest to the water, the branches all swept away from the shore, like hair blown back in a wind.
The front was probably the easiest climb, but if I fell there'd be nothing to break my fall until…
Luna started tugging at my pant leg. She stood there with my hammock looped over a shoulder. "What do you want?"
She had me hold the hammock at the end. Then she tugged it out of my hands. "Luna, I don't have time to play with you right now."
"Jump!" she shouted.
"What? What does she mean?" Chief asked.
"She means trust me," I guessed. She gave me the hammock again, then tugged on it. I gave it to her, dropping it to the ground. She growled.
"Hold it," Gaddakk said. He lifted the other end of the hammock. I picked up my end and held it. He stepped back until it was taut between us. Luna smiled and beckoned us to the side of the tree. When she was happy where we stood, she climbed up the tree like an eel going through seaweed.
Before we knew it, she was a branch away from Queli. The girl sobbed a bit, but watched closely as Luna made weird gestures.
Finally, my little friend kicked one of the tree's fruits free, held it for a second, then tossed it towards us.
"Like a net!" Gaddakk said, catching on to her plan. We managed to keep the fruit from smashing on the ground. Luna cheered. She made more gestures, telling the girl to jump. We'd catch her.
Queli wasn't having any. Luna shrugged, looked down at us. We nodded. She jumped. We just barely caught her. She shouted something enthusiastic and rolled to the ground.
Chief looked at us, then up into the tree. "Queli, you wanna jump in the net like a big fish? I promise we won't eat you. Well, Da'an might. I promise to keep him from eating all of you." Queli giggled. After the Chief talked all her fear away, he talked her into jumping.
As soon as she rolled out of the hammock, the whole village cheered. She and Luna got hugs from everyone related to Queli. Which meant the whole tribe picked her up at one point or another. She looked a little overwhelmed when they finally let her alone. Almost like a race of giants had tried to smother her or something.
Instead of hugging her, I took her hand and led her down the beach. At a little protected cove, where we could be alone, I sat down. She sat beside me. "Good job, Luna," I said. She made a gesture. I think she was saying that my catching was pretty swell, too.
"It was your idea, though." I pointed at the sky in the general direction the box had come from. "When you pray to Antwerp? Thank him for me, too."
"Antwerp Rise," she corrected with a smile.
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The next afternoon, Wife number two's tally stick filled up. Summer was over. We had enough stored food to last to and through the trip inland at the end of the season.
Fishing would continue, but just enough to keep fresh food for each day. Oh, and the big effort for the Walking Feast, of course.
This meant that the fleet of fishermen became mine. After the evening meal, I walked through the village and selected candidates. Every man or boy I tapped went to the edge of the lagoon and waited.
I climbed up on a rock and got their attention. "Okay. In ten days, the Tocanni will host the Saffi. There will be feasts. There will be boasts. And there will be wrestling.
"I know you all know the game. So I'll go over them once more. Two men swim out to the raft. Two men fight on the raft. One man throws the other over the side. The man on the raft wins. And another man swims out.
"There are not many rules. No weapons. You can't fight until both men stand in their circles. And you can't jump into the water after you win the fight." I pointed at Gaddakk. "Now, each man reaches in to the gourd that Gaddakk holds. You'll get a male or female tatch shell. Those are our two teams. I'll send you out to the raft.
"Whoever loses tonight goes out fishing tomorrow. Everyone else fights. Until I kick you off the team. Now, get your shells."
As the two teams formed, the rest of the village took seats around the water. I arranged the teams in lines, trying to match men and boys by size. At the very end of the line I found Luna. She showed me a tatch shell. I looked over at Gaddakk.
"She took it before I… She's very fast, Da'an."
"Uh-huh." I glared down at her. "Girls can't compete." I raised my voice. She couldn't understand me, but other listeners would. "But, if it's important to you, I'll let you practice." There was a grumble, mostly among the wrestlers, but a few of the viewers, too.
"I think she's earned the chance," Tassa shouted. She hugged Queli to her side and glared at the crowd. No one argued with her.
The first pair rowed the platform out into the water and set the anchors. They stood in the circles on either end. "Start!" I barked. They charged at each other. I had set the biggest guys out first. Their style was mostly based on hitting as hard as they could. Dempsh went down on one knee early, Chesk kicked him in the head and rolled him over the side.
"Next," I shouted. They swam out, while one of Jekk's boys helped Chesk drag Dempsh to shore.
I kept one eye on Luna. She watched closely, making subtle motions as she matched the fights going on.
She went out with Hassface, the smallest boy I'd picked. He was old enough, but not big enough to compete. I had wanted to get a handle on how he approached wrestling.
He was mean. When I shouted, 'Start,' he jumped straight up. His weight on the platform almost tipped Luna over. She recovered, but that gave him a chance to rush her. She almost blocked but he managed to smack her on the side of her head. I don't think he pulled it, even for someone as tiny as her. She howled, spun around and he aimed a kick at her rump.
At the last second, she blurred. His foot passed through empty air and she grabbed the back of it. Lifting it, she tipped HIM over. He tried to kick with his other foot, but she ducked that, too.
There was something of a handstand and she was on the other side of him. He rolled to grab her, arms flailing. She jumped over him again, set her shoulder in his back and pushed. He rolled completely over the edge and into the water.
"Fires above and waters below," I said softly. Everyone else stared, slack jawed. Hassface even tread water and stared up at her.
She looked around, worried that she'd done something wrong. Then the cheering started.
"She can't compete," Gaddakk reminded me.
"She doesn't have to," I replied. "Anyone that can beat her in training, they can push the whole Saffi tribe into the sea."
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Training was on the sand. It was easier to stand up again after you were thrown out of the circle, it saved the time of swimming in and back, and no one drowned.
We practiced moves in the morning, then ran, then fought. I trimmed the team down in the evening and we had dinner.
Luna was a quick study. Any move I showed her she had down in one or two tries. "I think she's fought before," I mentioned casually.
"Son," Jekk said, "that girl's killed before." I froze for a second. "Have fun when you fight her," he said with a smile and walked off.
I had Luna go last on the first day. I faced her. After Gaddakk started us, I started moving around the circle. She watched carefully. When I got close, I made a few snatching moves at her head. She didn't flinch.
When I went at her for real, though, she grabbed my wrist, ducked under my arm, did this very painful thing and… As near as I can tell, she got me to throw myself to the sand.
I lay there for a second trying to figure out what had happened. She stalked up to stand over my head. "START!" she yelled.
"I don't think she understands," Gaddakk said.
"Oh, she does," I said. I rolled to my knees then stood. She glared up at me. "She knows I'm holding back." I bowed and smiled at her. "Well, I was."
We took our places. "Start!" I ran full tilt for Luna. I lowered my shoulders and aimed for her gut. My arms swept out to the side in case she ran, but I was ready to reach up or down if she jumped or ducked.
Instead, she ran towards me. Deep inside my reach, she grabbed my beard and ducked under my chest. The ground came up and punched me in the forehead.
I woke to firelight. Luna sat on my chest, looking at me with a worried expression. I smiled. She gave a weak one back at me.
"Are you alive?" Chief asked from somewhere nearby.
"No," I said.
"Good. Because if you lived, you'd never live long enough to live down the shame. A tiny girl like that, kicking you to the sand."
"Chief, you're welcome to step into the circle with her. Any time."
He snorted and moved away. I touched a lump on the top of my head. Luna winced in sympathy.
"You have got to teach me how the Sharf Leet fight," I told her.
Luna coached us through the next few days. She would demonstrate something, then walk us slowly through it. At 'start' we would then proceed to look nothing at all like her.
She giggled, the village laughed, we bruised and we'd start all over again. On the fourth day, she pulled something in her back as she made me eat even more sand.
Back in the hut, I noticed that she was favoring her side. "Come here," I said. I had her lay across my lap and massaged her muscles.
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