Star Trek: Bendross
Episode 35: Vocabulary
By
Jay P. Hailey
And
The Bendross Players

 


Two hours of vocabulary later, Michelle was tired, thirsty and hungry.

"I could use some water." She said into the Comm. "And some lunch."

"Be right there." Jon Dou said, "What are you having?"

"Water and a sandwich." Michelle said. "Peanut butter."

"You got it."

A few moments later, as Jon Dou came down the steps, Hamilton said, "Hey Michelle, I'll be right back."

Michelle nodded at him. "I don't think he's going to attack me in the immediate future."

Hamilton bounded up the steps.

Jon Dou approached slowly. Stares-into-Night watched her carefully, his fur puffing out again. Jo Dou handed a tray to Michelle; on it were two prepackaged peanut butter sandwiches and two bottles of water.

"I didn't know what your friend wanted." Jon Dou said.

"Nice Catch." Michelle said. "I hope we don't poison him."

"If we do, we're lucky because I know where there's a doctor nearby." Jon Dou said.

Hamilton came back moments later with his own lunch, bottle, a floppy hat, sunglasses and a beach chair.

"You must be kidding." Michelle said.

"I don't see any reason for me to be uncomfortable." Hamilton said. With quick motions, he stood up the chair and flopped into it, bottle of juice in one hand, rifle across his lap and floppy hat and sunglasses shielding him from the sun.

Michelle set the tray in between herself and her new visitor, who looked up at her with a stunned expression.

"Yes, it's lunch time." Michelle said.

"[You're offering me food?]" Stares-into-Night Replied.

It took some doing for her to express that Stares-Into-Night she meant him to have a sandwich and the bottle. The bottle fascinated him. The peanut butter sandwich earned a bemused and puzzled sniffing.

Michelle sipped her water and took a dainty bite of sandwich, and then she unwrapped the one belonging to her native guest.

Stares-Into-Night watched her and then sniffed the sandwich carefully. He peeled the bread back and took a few thoughtful licks of peanut butter.

"[Disgusting, but oddly tasty.]" Stares into Night said.

"Eat as much or as little as you like." Michelle told him.

-*-

The sun was in the western quarter of the sky. The newcomer stood up and made a very long, complicated Chitter.

Michelle stayed seated and looked at him.

Stares-into-Night turned and began walking towards the tree line.

He took a few steps and then looked back. When he saw that Michelle and Hamilton were still seated, he seemed to relax totally for the first time in the whole day.

"Hold up, little guy." Hamilton stood up.

Stares into Night turned and froze.

"What are you doing, Ham?" Kerenski asked.

"I'm going to walk our new friend home." Hamilton said. "We'd make a great impression if we let their ambassador get eaten by a raptor on the way home."

"I want you to stop well short of the tree line. A hundred yards." Kerenski said.

"Cool."

Hamilton Stepped over towards Stares-into-Night. "Lead on, little dude."

Vasquez said into her radio. "He shouldn't go alone. If he got into it with anything, I don't know if I could get there in time."

Martin thought about it. "No, one at a time until they get used to us."

Stares-into-Night took a few stiff steps. Hamilton kept pace.

Stares-into-Night hopped quickly three steps away. Hamilton caught up. "What, Follow the leader? I can't walk that way."

Stares-Into-Night chittered at him.

"I know you're a big boy and can handle yourself, Little Dude. I'm just trying to be friendly." Hamilton replied.

Stares into Night turned and walked stiffly towards the forest. Hamilton kept a loose gait and paced him. As they walked along, Stares into Night grew more relaxed.

"[They're waiting for you in there.]" Stares into night said, waving at the trees.

Hamilton looked as they walked. He spotted a few heads peeking. "We got an audience, Dude."

"[Wonderful.]"

As they got to 100 yards, Hamilton stopped. "Have a good day, Little Dude. Hope we see you tomorrow."

Stares into night turned and then gestured back at the Ship, chittering.

"No, you go ahead." Hamilton said.

Stares into Night looked at him for a bit and then turned and moved towards the tree line.

As he got a good distance away, a spear came flinging out of the tree line. It was on target for Hamilton but landed short.

Stares into Night Turned towards Hamilton and let loose a shriek that raised the hair on Hamilton's neck. As he did so several answering screams came from the forest line accompanied by more spears.

Hamilton turned and pelted away from the forest as fast as he could go.

-*-

Stares into Night ducked into the trees and climbed wildly as fast as he could go, Sees-Far was right behind him.

They ducked, climbed, spun around trees and hid.

When they got to a good hiding place, they hunkered down. "True-Spear will never forgive you," Sees-Far said.

"The demon was escorting me home!" Stares-into-Night hissed. "What was I supposed to do?"

"I saw it." Sees-Far grinned. "Obvious you were put here to make friends and have lunch with demons, because you certainly weren't put here to make friends with the Rock-Skins."

Stares-into-Night said in a wonderingly stunned tone, "They actually aren't that bad once you get over their faces. They grimace a lot. It looked like their faces weren't completely attached."

Sees-Far, "I can't believe you had lunch with Demons today."

"I even began to learn Demon Tongue. The one in blue with the mane is the leader." Stares-into-Night said. "It almost seemed happy to meet me. It yelled at its tribe. I thought I was going to die, but they did what it said. They control the Star Hat. I saw a demon in a .. a.. a sort of a basket I guess, with a big ripping death. I guess that's the one they used to kill the snake-cow. They had the black weapon things. The other one with the mane pointed its weapon at me, but the senior one made it stop. Our forest demon was there, but the one who put on a hat pointed its weapon at him." Stares into Night babbled. He was narrowly failing to cope with his day.

"We need to get back to the tribe." Sees-Far looked around.

"They seem to have done this before." Stares-into-Night said. "The one with the Hat made himself comfortable."

Sees-Far grabbed him and hauled him out of the hiding place. "Home. We go home."

-*-

Stares-into-Night babbled at the tribe. Everyone was listening. He babbled and babbled and babbled. He told each element of his day again and again as if looking at it from a different angle.

Strong-Voice listened and in time felt that he understood some of what his shaman was saying.

One the hunters standing picket duty scuttled up to him quickly "Trouble. A Pack of Rock-Skins approach."

Strong Voice stood up, ending the story. "How many? Where?"

"Over fifteen." The picket said. "I don't know how many they have on our flanks."

The image of a battle inside the tree-village came to Strong-Voice. It was terrible. The Village was designed for defense against beasts. It was porous to People. The tight spaces would work in favor of the defenders, but not so well that they were immune from attack. They could loose entire families warding off a concerted assault.

Strong-Voice knew every man, woman and child as if they were his own family. "Make yourselves ready!" He barked in the clear, sharp tones that gave him his name. "We may be under attack in moments."

Strong-Voice was reminded of why he treasured Holds-Bird when after a moment's intent thought she barked, too. "Gather all children here! We can defend one place better than many."

Strong-Voice nodded at her. It felt comforting to know someone with brains and a spine had his back. Speaking of which, he turned to Sees-Far "Gather your hunters. We'll go meet True-Spear."

Sees-Far made himself level with the branch that held the conclave. "Meet you in the yard."

The yard was what they called the flat, grassy area central to all their trees it made a nice playground, work area and parade round and was surrounded by excellent living and fruiting trees.