LIT 24. Sinking Feeling

Lost in Translation Chapter 24

Previously: They made it to their destination, a tree like creature with trunks for legs and fruit that spoke in all languages. It gave Marie half answers and a moment to talk to Edmund. Then she was given more than just a moment — she was given the real person.

Edmund wasn't hungry, but the rest of us stopped to eat. We ate slowly, in case he changed his mind halfway through the meal. He took some water before we started moving again, but no food.

"How is this possible?" Valentina asked, looking from Edmund to me, as if we'd come up with this plot together.

"Oswin?" I offered. If Henrique and I had both been brought here by her, why not Edmund as well? Ignoring the fact that Henrique and I had both had ships.

"How far from home are we, Marie? If there's a human colony here, we must be in known space."

"Edmund, there's no colony. She's a child of the Swan Song crew." If he'd gotten any paler I would have been able to see his skull.

"So no one knows where we are. No one's coming." A smile broke over his teeth, missing the rest of his face. "I suppose my political career is done."

"Funny. I had the same thought when I landed." I grinned, more for his benefit than mine. "At least you found humans right away. It took me a while."

Edmund glanced from me to Bahr. "I would like to hear that story."

"Another time," said Valentina, over her shoulder as she started walking back towards the village. "We've got to get home, and we've got to figure out how we're going to explain him."

I shrugged. "Everyone accepted me."

"Yes, but now it's getting weird."

"We'll say his ship crashed in water nearby. We'll say its stuck at the bottom of some swamp." Valentina nodded.

"Good enough. We'll be walking for a few hours, moon boy. We still have food left, if you get hungry on the way."

"Edmund, do you remember that song from home, about moonlight as a guide?" He looked at me, confused.

"I think so, why?"

"I can't remember the last verse."

He nodded. "I remember it:

"And the old wives tale says,

Moon rocks would tell you if they could.

Watch the sky, and I will try,

to help you home, to warmth and food.

And the old wives tale says

Moonlight would tell you if she could.

Go to sleep, and think of me

When you wake before you should.

And the old wives tale says

Starlight would tell you if he could.

Count the dots, follow the lines,

I wait for brave, proud travelers like you."

His singing voice left much to be desired, but I wasn't listening to it anyway. I was hearing Amalia's voice and my mothers, now un-muddled by misremembered lyrics.

Edmund frowned. “It doesn’t sound as nice now as it did before — the stars waiting for prideful travelers to stumble through them,” he muttered, to no one in particular. Then he turned to look at me. "Marie, what happened to your hair?"

I reached up to my hair before I remembered how I'd last seen him. "The purple was fake, Edmund. It was a wig."

"Ah, good. I was worried the transport malfunction had messed up time somehow and it had all grown out. Your natural color suits you." He looked down the braid. "As does the red."

I picked up the braid and, sure enough, there was a bit of red at the end. I tried to rub it off. It stayed put. It was a bit too vibrant to be blood. "The red is new." I looked up to ask Valentina about it, if perhaps there was a plant or fruit juice that would have stained it. She was already getting ahead of us and, I assumed, had no intention of turning around to see if we were still behind her. We hurried to catch up and I decided my question could wait until after we got back to the village and explained Edmund's appearance.

With the benefit of a full day's light, we were able to find a section of the stream narrow enough to jump. We all made it across without getting out feet wet, though dirt and scraps were another story. The forest was quiet save for the sounds of creatures like insects, a hazy mass of noise always a few steps away. Once in a while I thought I heard a rumbling, like thunder but from the planet's surface. The sky was clear and we were far from that speaking tree that could step out of the earth, that could displace it. I blamed my nerves.

Valentina stopped us with maybe an hour left to the village, shushing us despite the fact that no one was speaking. "Do you hear that?" she whispered. I strained my ears to pick out whatever new threat she'd found.

Bahr, on the other hand, grinned. "It's a ----," he said. Edmund looked at me but I had no translation to give him. Valentina didn't respond or offer an explanation; she was busy getting her bow ready.

She fired a shot into the tree tops and down came an object the size of a large house-cat. Upon further inspection it was something like a chicken, with an arrow through its neck and something green oozing from the wound. "I figured we'd get something out here, to explain why we were gone. This is better than I hoped. These things taste great, and there's a lot of meat here." I'd have to take her word for it. The smell of the thing recently dead was less than appetizing.

"That's... that's a bow and arrow. What's the technology like here, Marie?"

"It's bow and arrow technology, Edmund."

He sighed. "I miss air conditioning already."

"I miss showers." His frown deepened, so I put an end to that conversation before we ended up with a long list of missed conveniences.

"Let's get that catch back to the village then."

We made it to the edge of the village. Standing just behind the tree line, a person in the village would not have been able to see us unless they knew where to look. But we could see them — all of them. It seemed the entire village was standing outside in its center. "Is everyone normally out in a crowd like that?" asked Edmund.

"No," Valentina answered. "I suppose they'll tell us what they're all upset about when we get there."

"Are they going to get upset about me?" asked Edmund.

"If you're lucky they'll be too worked up about whatever it is they're worked up about to pay you any mind."

"And if I'm unlucky?"

"Then, yeah, maybe. Are you going to live at the edge of the woods for the rest of your life just to avoid them?"

He hesitated a moment before answering. "I suppose not."

Valentina walked into the village with her shoulders back and the rest of us followed. I tried to mirror her confidence even though I didn't feel it. I doubted she did either. Valentina's mother, Isadora, spotted us right away. "Where have you been?"

"Hunting, mother."

"Since last night?"

"No, this morning. Bahr and Marie went with me."

"Valentina, don't lie." Luciene had slipped from the watching crowd to stand next to her sister. She spoke in rapid English, making her own accent more difficult to understand. "I followed you out to that... that thing and..."

"You what?"

"You snuck off in the middle of the night, and I followed you." Luciene avoided her twin's eyes. "I didn't mean for the whole village to get involved, but once I told mother..."

"You knew what would happen after that," Valentina hissed.

"You've been hiding information about Henrique, Valentina?" Isadora asked, as if she were asking her daughter about a broken cup.

"I... I had a new ----. I would have told you if I'd learned anything useful."

"What was in the woods, Valentina?"

"I..."

"Who did you see?"

"It... it was like a tree but it spoke. I'm not sure if..."

"Come with me." If Isadora was surprised that we'd come back with one more person than we'd left with, she didn't show it. She led us to the other side of the village, to a gaping hole in the ground that hadn't been there when we'd left.

"Can you explain this, Valentina?"

"No?"

"Look closer." Valentina walked up to the edge and I, with a moment's hesitation, followed her there. Something glinted in the darkness, a flat and shiny sheet. Something metal.

"Is that the ship?"

"It moved this morning. It sunk into the ground and traveled all the way to the village. Can you explain this? Does this have something to do with your trip?"

"No, I have no idea..." Isadora looked from Valentina to Luciene, as if they'd conspired against her.

The ground shook slightly. Valentina and I both stepped back from the edge and the edge followed us, just a few inches. The maw had gotten wider. "How long has it been doing that?" I whispered.

"All morning," Luciene replied. "It seems to be slowing down."

"Seems to be?" I asked. The maw all but laughed at us, shaking and growing even wider.

I stepped away but never really had a chance. Someone grabbed my shoulder. I thought it might have been Bahr. The gesture was appreciated, of course, but useless. Whoever it was, they were tumbling down with me just a moment later.

My vision went dark before I hit anything, before I felt anything. People were yelling, somewhere. I wondered if the hole had closed up over us, like a jaw shutting. It made as much sense as anything else. I could still see some small light below me, from the ship's hull. It was red now. It moved further away even as I fell towards it. Only the feeling in my stomach told me I was falling. I still hadn't hit anything.

I took in a lungful of air too full of dust. I coughed once, twice, then went unconscious. I have no idea how long my sleeping body fell through the earth.