An Accidental Alliance (29 page)

     
“What are you doing out of your seats?” Park asked as the sound of dual servos could be heard and the cabin righted to a more or less level attitude. Someone had retracted the back wheels. Park had not thought that was even possible on the ground.

     
“Couldn’t fiddle with the ship’s gravity from our seats,” Velvet told him. “I figured we might be able to slow our descent if I could invert the suspensor field. It worked, sort of, but I expected internal gravity to go up, not down.”

     
“So I was flying in my seat,” Park noted as he helped them up. Velvet had twisted an ankle and one of the men had what might be a broken arm. “I’d wondered. Velvet we’ll have to strap up that ankle at the least, I think. Claner, that arm looks bad. Anyone have experience with a broken arm?”

     
“I wouldn’t know how to set it,” one of the others told him, “but I can rig up a sling and a splint for now.”

     
“Good,” Park nodded, helping the Mer to a seat. “Try not to scream, but this may hurt a bit.” He warned Claner. Claner nodded and clamped his mouth shut as Park felt through the still swelling arm for the Mer’s bones.

     
He did not press roughly, but Claner gasped involuntarily twice during the examination.

“I think it may be a green-stick break,” Park told him a minute later. “I can’t be certain, but I couldn’t feel any sharp bone edges in there. All that swelling, though, I could have missed something. We’ll splint you up for now and have the doctors see to you soonest.”

     
Park returned to the command cabin and told the others, “We did better than we should have. I don’t know when the last time a spaceship crashed with all hands surviving, but we managed it anyway. Uh, why is everyone looking so nervous?” he asked suddenly.

     
Iris turned toward him, her face ashen. “We’ve landed somewhere in the middle of Asia, deep in Kogack territory.”

     
“The savage Atackack?” Park did not really ask the question. “I don’t suppose there’s a chance they didn’t notice us coming down…”

     
“Not too likely,” Tina replied. “Sonic booms for the last two thousand miles and the roar of engines should have tipped even the most ignorant savage off that something was going on. And we left a contrail in the sky that points right at us. Someone is going to come looking to see what caused the ruckus.”

     
“Can’t be helped then,” Park replied. “Do we have a distress beacon?”

     
“We can rig one up now that we can jury rig an antenna,” Garnore reported. “I’ll get on that right away.”

     
“I’ll help you,” Iris volunteered.

     
“Good,” Park nodded. “I’m going to open a hatch and let some fresh air in. However did we manage to crash land without bursting into flame?”

     
“A lot of luck is my guess, old boy,” Taodore told him. He followed Park and Marisea, who had not left Park’s side since the landing, to the emergency hatch that could be opened from the large aft compartment. “I don’t mind admitting that I find being in the heart of Kogack territory worrisome to say the least.”

     
“It’s not on my top ten list of tropical vacation spots either,” Park replied, “Although it feels like tropical is the watchword. A bit hot and sticky out here. Well, the air is breathable at least. Are those trees moving?”

     
“That sort does move,” Taodore nodded. “You’ve seen motile plants before.”

     
“I have,” Park agreed. “The walking grass and trees along the Zontisso River and a few other places. But the trees never moved fast enough for me to actually see the movement.”

     
“We must have given them a fright, then,” Taodore shrugged. “Some Kogacks may have been scared off for a bit too, but they’ll come back to see what it was, I’m sure.”

     
“We seem to be surrounded by hills,” Park noted. “Not a traditionally defensible position.”

     
“Wow!” Marisea enthused. “Look at that gouge we made in the dirt behind us.”

     
“That may be what kept us alive,” Park noted. “We came in down that long hill at nearly the same angle. We would have hit much harder had it been a level surface, or worse, slammed into the side of the next hill. So how long before the Kogack welcome wagon arrives?”

     
“The what?” Taodore tried to absorb the concept. “Well, as I think of it, we may not actually be in quite as much danger as it seems, you know. The Kogacks cover a large area, but they are grouped into small bands of hunter-gatherers most of the time and their population is relatively sparse, so even if there are some in the immediate area a single hunting rifle would be sufficient to drive them off.”

     
“We don’t have a hunting rifle,” Park retorted. “We don’t have so much as a pea-shooter and a slingshot. However, we’re rigging up a distress beacon, so maybe we can call for help unless you think we ought to start hiking out.”

     
“Hiking?” Taodore laughed. “We must be a thousand miles from anywhere.”

     
“Close,” Iris remarked from behind them. “According to the GPS, the nearest Mer city, Planaco, is nine hundred fifty miles away.”

     
“And over uncertain territory,” Park added. “Somehow I suspect we would run into a few hungry Kogacks between here and there. We’ll have to sit tight. Any luck with that beacon?”

     
“We have something rigged,” Iris nodded, “but for best range we’ll have to run the antenna to the top of our tail. Garnore thinks he can jump that high with his suspensor on.”

     
“I just hope there’s someone out there listening for us,” Park replied.

     
Rigging the antenna was simple enough and in fact the beacon antenna could also be used to get a voice signal out as well. Using radio skip off the ionosphere, they managed to contact Van Winkle Base who promised to have a rescue team on its way and there within the day. However it was the Kogacks who found them first.

     
Two hours after they had crashed, Marisea spotted the first Kogack scouting party. She and Park were walking around the downed space ship when five giant ant-like creatures ran at them, screaming in their click-clacking language. Marisea and Park threw rocks in response and the Kogacks threw spears, but while Park and Marisea each hit a Kogack squarely, the Atackack spears were poorly aimed and Park was able to grab one of them while Marisea continued to throw rocks.

     
To Park’s surprise, the Kogacks did not stay for a second volley of spears, but instead broke off their attack and
 
ran back up and over the hill. “That was just a little too easy,” Park told Marisea. “Let’s gather up these spears and the larger rocks and get them back inside the ship.”

     
Once they were inside, the ladder they had used was brought back up as Taodore remarked. “I don’t think they were actually trying to kill you.”

     
“Oh?” Park asked, “Is spear chucking the Kogack way of saying, ‘Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood. Have a bundt cake?’”

     
“Not hardly,” Taodore laughed. “But from what I have read they are very accurate with those spears of theirs. Either these were a bunch of children, which from their size I doubt, or these were just making a ritual first foray. It’s a sort of behavior some bands have been known to partake in. Throwing those rocks and actually hitting them may have actually been bad form.”

     
“Nice,” Park sighed. “So now those savages know I’m an ignorant barbarian?”

     
“Something of the sort,” Taodore remarked. “They do not generally attack in earnest until certain niceties have been observed. This first foray is a sort of opening of negotiations. They wanted to make sure we were worthy of going to war with.”

     
“So we shouldn’t have fought back?” Park asked.

     
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Taodore replied. “The Kogack mentality does not really respect the concept of pacifism. Had you just stood there, they would have butchered you like animals. Now that they know you are worthy, they backed off in order to proceed with the next phase of warfare.”

     
“Which is?” Iris asked.

     
“Dancing and music, I think,” Taodore replied.

     
“What?” Park asked. “Are they challenging us to a battle of the bands?”

     
“Ha, now that would be most civilized of them, what?” Taodore laughed. “No, this is not that sort of dancing and music.”

     
“Old anthropology classes are coming back to me,” Park nodded.

     
“In this case it’s arthropodology,” Iris smirked.

     
“See why I love her?” Park told Taodore and then went on. “Certain cultures of humans would behave in an analogous manner. Wars can often be settled by displays of strength rather than actual fighting. And I think you mentioned that some of their wars end with the throwing of a single spear.”

     
“Yes, but that doesn’t apply in this case,” Taodore told him uncomfortably. “You see that sort of fighting usually only takes place between tribes and bands of related Atackack. Most groups are related to those near it and fighting complete strangers is rare, but there is no doubt we have no discernable relation to these Kogacks. This will be a war to the death once they actually start attacking. In a way this is all quite fascinating. I don’t know of another Mer who has actually ever witnessed this form of war.”

     
“Well, if you think it through,” Park told him, “any who were involved were probably killed before they could tell you about it. How do you know this, however?”

     
“We have asked Atackacks about it,” Taodore replied. “Um, they’re going to kill us, aren’t they.”

     
“Cheer up,” Park told him. “Maybe your informants were lying. That’s something else primitive humans used to like to do to those who studied them. In some cases “Lying to the Anthropologist” became a national sport. People would compete for who could tell the tallest tale the researcher would believe or use rude words instead of various people’s names and such. Good fun, except for the anthropologist, of course.”

     
“Well the Atackack do have a somewhat primitive sense of humor,” Taodore remarked.

     
“Sure. So all this is some sort of an initiation, you think?” Tina asked hopefully.

     
“Not a chance,” Park and Taodore replied in unison. Taodore continued. “The Kogacks find and kill a couple dozen unwise Mer every year. They will attack.”

     
“We can try holing up
 
here in the space ship,” Iris suggested.

     
“That’s what we will try, but I doubt they’ll have all that much trouble breaking in,” Park told her. “Ants are very strong for their size and weight, I doubt Atackacks have that strength proportionate for their size, but they are considerably stronger than humans or Mer. Give them two or three hours and they will get in.”

     
“They do respect strength,” Taodore told them. “Our best chance to still be alive when the rescue team finds us will be to fight. It seems to me they will try to come in this hatch first. We can try holding them off with these spears. The door should be easy to defend for a long time, it seems to me.”

     
“They can only come in two at a time,” Park considered, “but we can stand just inside with five or six all having a clear shot at them. Where are you going?”

     
Iris was on her way toward the hatch with Marisea and two others of Velvet’s team. “I want to see if that laser is still functional,” Iris replied. “Coherent light is a better weapon than a spear.”

     
“Unless they think to bring a mirror,” Park noted and the ladder was lowered back down again.

     
“The Kogacks are a Paleolithic culture,” Taodore pointed out. “The only metals they have are knives and axes they have traded for.”

     
“I seem to remember some Stone Age mirrors made from obsidian,” Park replied. “Sufficiently well polished, it could wreak some havoc. Have the Atackack had much experience with Mer lasers?”

     
“I should say not,” Taodore remarked even as Iris led her team out of the ship and back down the ladder. “We have never traded them with the Atackack nor used laser weapons against them. I think we’ll be safe enough from stone age mirrors.”

     
A few minutes later the drums started.
 
From the top of the hill to the north a drum slowly beat out a long and complex rhythm. It was soon echoed by another from the east and then the south and, in time, the west. After a while they began to beat out their rhythm in unison.

     
“I’m impressed,” Park admitted. “They are staying in time from our vantage point at those distances. That beating doesn’t sound the same to them as it does to us. They’ll all be out of synch from each other up there.”

     
“So they play for their maximum effect,” Taodore mused, “their maximum intimidation.”

     
Iris and the others returned with the remains of the laser just then. “It doesn’t look good,” Iris told Park. “We think the actual unit is intact, but it got torn off in the crash. We won’t know if it will work until it can be rewired. No telling how long that will take, but we’ll go to work on it right away.”

     
“So back to the spears for now,” Park shrugged.