Chapter 5 – Marco
Marco Leopold came from a large family. Well, large is a relative term, but four brothers and two sisters is a lot of birthing for any mother especially when they’re just minutes apart. Marco always felt he was the odd one, and in fact, he was. Isn’t the runt always the oddball? A lot can be said for the first born and the middle child, but the runt will always be, just the runt. They tend to the smaller, need more attention because they’re less capable, more sickly, and in more cases than not, the runts are the ones that don’t usually make it. In Marco’s case though, the will to survive was strong.
Marco didn’t need more attention, he demanded it. He proved to be smart and alert and inquisitive. He was the maddening one who always asked ‘why’ until he was either satisfied, or chased out of the dwelling. More often than not he was chased away.
To say the dwellings were subterranean would only be half true. Most of Marco’s race lived in the mountainous regions where shelters and communities were built above ground, but some chose to live in the river valleys and meadow regions. Marco’s family was one of the latter. Living on the plains came with its own set of problems though.
The planet was overrun with large boar-like creatures that roamed the low lands and with great frequency stampeded across the meadows leveling everything in their path. They were about three times the size of the normal boar with large tusks that could, and often did, impale their prey. Not much was known about the Thorus other than they were fierce and would kill anything in their sight. There was no collective knowledge of what caused them to stampede, where they went, or why. The one good thing was they always traveled in herds and could be detected advancing from miles away. The vibration in the ground, and the thundering sound of their hoofs hammering the terrain would generally give anyone sufficient time to seek shelter.
Cities were built with big rocks and fallen trees. The Thorus went right through them with seemingly little effort. The cities were rebuilt with great stone walls to divert them. They too were destroyed. Nothing yet had been discovered to withstand the sheer brute force of their great strength and numbers. An adult Thorus usually weighed somewhere around 400 pounds, but Marco’s people had prevailed. Large communities had been carved out of the country side in the low lands formed by centuries of water erosion. In these valleys and canyons, many with the streams, creeks, and small rivers still running through them, very sturdy roofs were constructed overhead, from one bank to the other. They were covered with dirt and planted to look like the surrounding terrain. The Thorus could go thundering by overhead without harm to the structure or anyone in it.
With the roof securely in place, rooms and enclosures could be constructed and carved out of the banks. If they were lucky enough to have water flowing through, the water’s edge was built up to keep the water on its designated course. Flood gates were also built upstream to regulate the flow of the water during the rainy seasons.
At each end of the community, the roof was extended in an overhead series of webbing and nets designed to snare at least one of the Thorus as they passed by. If they were lucky enough to get one caught up in their nets, a big community feast followed. Marco liked those the best. A pit would be dug and a big fire built, and when the hot embers were just right, the creature would be lowered into the pit and covered over. The community excitement would build as preparations were made for the big feast on the following day. The celebration sometimes would last for days. The live music and dancing created a festival atmosphere and those special occasions lived long in Marco’s memory.
§§§
Marco’s people were more concerned about day to day survival than they were about whether they shared the universe with other intelligent life. The night skies held little to no interest for them. On the rare occasion when the light trail of a meteor in the night sky was seen, there might be a brief discussion about it but no real curiosity. Marco, on the other hand, would lay for hours looking up at the night sky and wondering what was up there. He couldn’t believe that in all that great space, they were the only living creatures. His greatest wish was to find out.
Using crystals he found in mountain streams, he discovered he could see the lights in the sky better. It appeared to bring them a little closer. Not much, but some. Excited about his discovery, he started to map the lights and found they were moving. Nothing was stationary. Everything was moving. That must mean they were moving as well.
When he tried to discuss this with his friends, they either made fun of him or didn’t want to hear it. He soon found he had no friends at all. No one wanted to be seen with loco Marco as he was referred to.
Over the next couple of years Marco spent every free moment he had on redesigning an old radio he had managed to get his hands on. He wanted to enhance the radio from a simple device used only to receive signals, to one that would transmit signals as well. This wasn’t easy for a couple of reasons; first, he didn’t know what he was doing, and second, he was of an age when he was required to help build new communities.
§§§
New communities were built or expanded every year by the elder males and the young males in their second season. By their second season, all offspring had been taught enough of the basic survival skills needed to live on their own. By then they were accomplished hunters and strong enough and confident enough to handle most of life’s challenges. Moving out of their home community was essential to make room for the annual birthing. Marco had experienced that last year and didn’t want to live through that chaotic period again. Mothers were generally frantic trying to meet the needs of their new offspring. Marco was only too glad to be moving in with the males.
The males lived in one community and the females and their offspring lived in another community. The fathers were never known, nor did it matter who the sperm donor was. During mating season, there could be multiple donors for one mother. So Marco’s brothers and sisters didn’t necessarily have the same father.
The males did all the construction of the new communities and the females gave birth and taught them the needed survival skills. That was the way it had been since the beginning of time and there was no reason to change it now. Marco was just glad he didn’t have to be around for this coming birthing season, so he was glad to be lending a hand building what would be his new home. That way he could design and build it to his own specifications. He didn’t need much, but he did want to live alone rather than share a room with someone who was going to make fun of him for his experiments. He also wanted a workshop so he could work on his communication device.
The one thing that bothered him the most was being able to ‘hear’ everyone, and have everyone ‘hear’ him. In his last two seasons he had experimented with various materials to try to eliminate that, but was not completely successful. He could diminish it but not completely eliminate it. Finally he fashioned a metal head gear, very much like a helmet that would cut out most telepathic waves. Telepathy, being the main way Marco’s people communicated with each other, made it difficult to keep secrets, and Marco didn’t want everyone to know what he was experimenting on.
When Marco was in his workshop, he generally had his head gear on, but when it was time for the trials, he took the device out to the meadow and laid in the tall grass so he wouldn’t be seen. Telepathy is range limited so he would make sure he was out of range of his living community when he tried the communication device. He would spend hours every day laying in the meadow testing it.
Maybe he was using the wrong frequency. Maybe the antenna wasn’t strong enough or big enough. Maybe his communication device didn’t work at all. Disappointed, he would go back to his workshop every day after hours in the meadow and make adjustments to it. Someday he dreamed he would hear something. He never gave up his faith that there was other life out there. It was just a matter of connecting with them.
He was helping to build a new community and had just fini
shed for the day. There was a rush to finish this community because the birthing season was almost on them. Time was running out. Since this was the time of the long days, the building chief had two crews working. Marco had been on the first crew and had just been relieved. It was still light and Marco didn’t feel like sitting in his room. Besides he was anxious to try out the changes he had made to his communication device. He headed back to his room just long enough to stuff the device into his pack and head out.
He went to his usual spot and laid down in the meadow grass. After a long day at work it felt good just to lay down. After a few minutes, he turned on his device and rotated the dials to see what he would find. Static. Just static. That’s all he ever heard.
He was just about to give up when he thought he faintly heard something. Something different anyway. He worked with the dials to see if he could get a better reception. Still nothing but static. There could be any number of reasons for the fluctuation in the noise he heard. Then it was there again.
No, there was definitely something there.
Then he heard it “Hello, can you hear me?”
Marco was so excited his trembling fingers would hardly work. He finally sent back “Yes.”
Then a thought came to him, what if this were one of his family community playing tricks on him? He knew they took great pleasure making fun of loco Marco. But he didn’t know anyone else able to duplicate the communication device he built so he was fairly sure this had to be the real thing.
Then suddenly there was a strange looking vehicle sitting in the meadow in front of him. With his heart beating so hard he almost couldn’t move, he mustered all the courage and strength he had in him and stood up. This is what he had been waiting for all his life. This was his destiny. How could he turn and run away now?
Marco was shaken when the alien stepped out of his vehicle wearing something on his head with a picture of one of his prime food sources. Could that possibly be a religious icon, or a deity, or something? What would this stranger think when he found out that creature depicted on the strangers head gear would most likely consist of Marco’s evening meal?
§§§
This being an historic event, and not knowing what to say, Gizmo thought humor would be the best course of action.
Smiling he said, “Take me to your leader.”
Marco was speechless. He just stood there not knowing what to say or do. Finally he said. “I can’t take you to my family community and I can’t let them see you. They wouldn’t understand. It would just be safer for you if no one else knew you were here. I have been hoping for this moment all my life, I knew you would come, but we can’t stay here. Can you take me with you?”
Now it was Gizmo’s turn to be speechless. Share Giselle with a stranger? He’d never even considered that possibility. What do I do now, he thought.
“What you can do now is take me with you. I’m ready to go now.”
“You can read my thoughts?” Gizmo asked.
“Yes, that’s how we communicate.”
“Well, that makes things easier… for you, but what about me?”
“We’ll figure something out. Please take me with you. I have been waiting all my life for this,” Marco said.
“Well, okay, but this is my first trip in space so I don’t have much experience with this either.”
“Then we learn together. That’s even better.”
“You need to say good bye to anyone or get your things?” Gizmo asked.
“No I’m ready now.
§§§