SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (35 page)

The natives continued to watch me in silence; and after a few minutes I began to improve.

Kerabac asked, “How you holding up, Tibby?”

“Okay,” I answered.
“I felt a bit ill for a few minutes and thought I might black out, but now I’m starting to feel better again.”

I could see that some of the natives were starting to get nervous and were commenting and whispering to each other in a hushed panic.  “He not die!  He not fall into death sleep!” they murmured.

A look of amazement replaced the smug smile on the elder’s face as I quickly rebounded from the ill effects of the toxin.  For a brief moment I felt dizzy again and thought I was about to pass out.  I looked up to see the tall figure of what I believed to be Thumumba walking toward me through the gathered crowd of natives.  It was clear that the elderly woman and natives did not see this figure among them.  When Thumumba reached my side, I heard the familiar whisper in my ear, “
Aye ucombey nortelia Thumumba.  Telalle aye eugoray seballe!
”

Intuitively
I knew what to do next.  I looked at the old woman and repeated, “Aye ucombey nortelia Thumumba.  Telalle aye eugoray seballe!” which I now understood to mean,
I speak for Thumumba.  See I do not die!
  As I said the words, three loud peals of thunder filled the air in succession.  The natives collectively fell to their knees and pressed their heads to the wooden platform, shaking and trembling in fear of retribution for doubting the one who spoke on behalf of their god.

All was silent for nearly a minute before heads raised to look around and gaze into the sky.  The old woman rose to her feet and came forward.  She cut me free of my restraints using an odd-shaped knife that appeared to be made of bone.

“You speak truth, man from house in sky.  You speak for Thumumba.  Children of Thumumba listen.”

I heard Kerabac exclaim, “Well I’ll be damned, just like your dream.  You’re going to convert me to be a follower of Thumumba, if you keep this up.”

As he spoke, two natives came forward to cut him free, while another two cut Hotyona free – though Hotyona was still looking about aimlessly and didn’t seem to know what was happening.  The old woman spoke quietly to one of the two who freed Hotyona and the native nodded and ran off.  She then turned to me.

“Tell us, man who speak for Thumumba, what
is Thumumba wish?”

“Thumumba wish children set free from bad men who bind them.  Thumumba wish all bad men be gone from Sweet Home,” I said.

“Children of Thumumba wish same, but bad men strike with lightning and fire sticks and ride metal animals that kill children of Thumumba.  Bad men also wear hard skins.  Arrows and darts not pierce, so children fight but not win, only flee.”

All hopes I had that the natives could join us in the battle against the Brotherhood vanished, as she related with sadness and desperation the reality of their situation.  I realized that what she said was true; and if anything was going to be done to get the Brotherhood off the planet, it was going to be up to me and the crew of the
NEW ORLEANS
to accomplish it – or at least hold them at bay until the Federation could arrive.  I wasn’t sure just when the
NEW ORLEANS
would arrive.  They could be here already or it could be another day.  In any case, we needed to get back to the
ALI
to contact them.  The natives had unfortunately taken our guns and our cloaking devices and smashed them after we were captured, believing we were enemies.  We had no idea where we were in the jungle; and if we were going to get back to the ship, we would need the natives to guide us.

“
Your name?” I asked the old woman.

“My name
Jnanara,” she said.  “I speak for children of Thumumba.”

“My name Tibby.  I speak for Thumumba.”
  I hoped that I was saying things properly and using the proper protocol.  One wrong response and we might have ended up tied back onto the tree.

“Friends and I need guide.  Take us to sky boat to gather fire sticks.  We fight men who bind children of Thumumba.”

“No!  No return to sky boat!  Bad men wait in bushes and shadows… wait for Tibby and friends return.”

This was getting worse all the time.  Apparently the Brotherhood had found our ship after the cloaking device
expired.  They would not have been able to get in; and since none of them had ever seen or heard of a Mirage Fighter, they wouldn’t have the first clue as to its origin.  They had no doubt decided to wait for the owners to return with the intent to capture them and gain access to the ship to find out who we were and what threat we posed to them.

Kerabac overheard the conversation.  “What are we going to do now?” he said.

“I don’t know,” I said.  “I need to think this over.”

“How many men hide in bushes and shadows?” I asked Jnanara.  She turned to one of tribesmen nearby
.  Using his fingers he counted out twenty-five.

“Well,” I said, “I don’t think we
’ll be going back there unarmed to try and overpower them.  If we still had the cloaking devices, we might’ve had a chance, but not this way.”

“Maybe we can build a large fire and signal the
NEW ORLEANS
,” offered Kerabac.

“I don’t think that’s a very safe idea.  First they may not realize it’s us and just assume it’s a forest fire; and second, the Brotherhood would also see the signal and know where we are.  I think we stand a better chance if we go back to the compound.  We should be able to stealthily taking out a few troopers, arm ourselves with their gear and, if we have the chance, disguise ourselves in their uniforms.  Maybe we can create a diversion while we’re there, as well – do some damage to the facility that distracts their forces long enough to set the natives free.  If we do it right, they won’t know how many of us there are and they’ll pull back the troops staged at the
ALI
to help defend the base.  If we can find a good place to hide after we release the natives and hold there until the guards at the
ALI
pass us, we may be able to move quickly enough to get back to the ship and escape before they return.”

While Kerabac and I made plans and communicated with Jnanara, two natives returned with a nut
shell bowl containing some grayish liquid.  Using a large, pliable leaf that they folded to make a cup, they scooped the liquid and coaxed Hotyona into drinking it.

Jnanara noticed my look of concern at what was happening and she said, “Children give friend
naga juice
.  Naga make friend see this world Sweet Home again – no more see world of Thumumba.”

“How
much time before friend no see world of Thumumba?” I asked.

“Soon!”  She said.  Before long it became obvious that
time
, as perceived by the children of Thumumba, was divided into only a handful of categories –
many days
,
days
,
not soon
,
soon
and
now
.  In this case,
soon
turned out to be about ten minutes, at which time I could see Hotyona returning to normal rather rapidly.  His confusion as to where he was and what had happened to him was apparent.  At first he talked nonstop about Thumumba and heaven.  He believed he had been gone for years.  He had difficulty reorienting to his surroundings and the actual timeline of events; but slowly, more and more details of what had actually taken place returned to him as though he were recalling a dream.

I asked Jnanara if she could provide us with a guide to get us back to the Brotherhood camp.  I could see the concern on her face at my request, so I explained that we wanted to set Thumumba’s children free and destroy the place where they took the stolen sacred plant.  Jnanara looked at me silently, her unique and sad eyes filling with tears, as I did my best to communicate in the rudimentary language that we wanted as much as she and the children of Thumumba to free the bound ones, restore control of the sacred plant to the elders and remove all signs of the Brotherhood from Sweet Home.  She called another native and instructed him to guide us to the Brotherhood compound.

As we descended from the I’aban tree, I was surprised to find that we were nearly a hundred meters off the ground.  At first we descended by moving down branches while holding onto vines for support.  Our guide moved swiftly and gracefully, stopping often to wait for us, as we were not nearly as sure-footed or at ease with the decent.  We had to finish the last 25 meters using the vines alone, lowering ourselves hand over hand until we reached the ground.  Kerabac and I were able to do it without much trouble; but Hotyona had some difficulties, possibly because he was still groggy from the drug in his system, but more likely because he was not accustomed to such endeavors and exercise.

Once on the ground we moved at a more rapid pace.  Our guide was constantly looking about and scanning the trees, to which he would direct an occasional whistle or chirp that sounded like one of
the local jungle creatures.  This signal always received an answer; but only on two occasions did we get a glimpse of the native who supported the search from above.  As we progressed, he stopped once to point out one particular I’aban tree.  It took a few moments for me to recognize it as the tree where we had spent the night.  In the light of day the dark shadow of the narrow opening that led into its interior didn’t seem like an opening at all.

Another time he stopped us and sniffed the air, then diverted us on a route around the path we were taking.  “Beaguna,” he said, and I knew that the word meant
female drodoceal
in the universal Bammaspeak language.  It took a few minutes before I saw it lying along the edge of the path.  An unwary traveler walking by would probably not have noticed it until right on top of it, which is precisely too late.  As we passed by at a safe distance, I caught the strong spicy scent that the guide had picked up on much sooner.  I was surprised at the size of this drodoceal.  It was much larger than I anticipated – easily large enough to eat a man.  I expected it to have a hide like an alligator or crocodile, but it appeared to have smooth skin, not scaled or rough at all.

A little later he stopped and pointed to some small, hairless, simian-like creatures in the trees that seemed to be excited about something.  He motioned us off the trail once more and into a thicket of the oil-producing reeds we had used the night before.  He gestured to us to crouch down
; and as we did so, I saw in the distance six Brotherhood troopers moving through the trees along the trail.  They didn’t seem too alert to their surroundings, as they were talking and laughing while they passed by.

I heard one of them say, “Major Undoth thinks they’ll head back to their ship, but I say they got lost in this jungle and probably got eaten or poisoned by something.  The ship isn’t a federation design, so I think it’s either a drug runner that followed one of our ships back here, looking to score some God’s Sweat
, or a pirate hoping to steal something.  One thing for sure, they aren’t going anywhere now… and when we catch them....” At that point they were so far past us that I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.

They were heading straight toward the drodoceal.  I motioned to Kerabac and whispered, “This could be our chance.  If the drodoceal attacks them, we may be able to take them out in the confusion.”  Kerabac nodded and said something to our guide, who nodded in return and crouched down in the reeds.  Kerabac, Hotyona and I began to follow after the troopers while trying to remain concealed in the thick reeds that flanked the path.

As we started out, I asked Kerabac, “What did you tell our guide?”

“I told him to wait there and that if we got killed to go home.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, I’m sure he will have a great tale to tell either way.  Hotyona, I suggest you turn back and stay with our guide.  This shouldn’t take long.”

It was about then that we heard a scream and saw flashes of shots fired.  Kerabac and I took off running toward the scene and saw four of the troopers firing away at the creature on the ground, who had a firm hold on one of their brethren in its mouth.  Another lay on the trail, motionless and bleeding.  The drodoceal thrashed about and swung its large thick tail, catching a third trooper across the legs.  Even from our distant location in the reeds we could hear the crack
of his bones as both of his legs broke.  Finally, one of the troopers got a good beam on the monster’s head and managed a kill shot that brought the battle to an end.  By this time we had moved to a position nearly on top of them; and before they saw us coming, Kerabac took out one and I took out the second.  The third started to bring his gun up to fire, but I kicked it from his hand and dispatched him with a few quick blows.  The trooper with the broken legs tried to raise his weapon, but Kerabac had already armed himself with the weapon of the first opponent and fired, killing the trooper before he got the gun into position.

While searching the bodies of the troopers, we discovered that each carried one of the restraint collars like they used on the natives.  Kerabac quickly put a collar on each unconscious trooper.  We then stripped them of their uniforms and weapons and donned their outfits.  By now our guide had risen from the reeds and he and Hotyona stood by watching and grinning.  It was only a short distance back to the tree where we had camped the night before
; so we carried the prisoners there and deposited them inside.  Kerabac made some adjustments on the collars and I saw the unconscious bodies of our prisoners stiffen.