Chapter 2
When I think you are fit, we will go for a hike
As they descended through the atmosphere, the pilot maneuvered the shuttle so that the passengers could get good views of floating Patamic seed pods. The bulb of each was shaped like an inverted teardrop and trailed a long flexible stalk that pointed toward the land kilometers below. In his window seat, Keelic looked from a passing bulb many times the size of the shuttle, to the intense blue of an ocean, to a long expanse of white shore, to the forest, and back to the blue sky.
He noticed an odd, somewhat familiar smell.
"This is your pilot, ladies and gentlemen and Galactic friends. Welcome to Ermol, the last unspoiled oasis in Alliance space. You’re in for a rare treat today because I’ve just been authorized for some extra hover time to allow you to see one of the famous Ermolian fliers feeding nearby."
Most of the passengers murmured excitedly or looked out the windows. One man that Keelic had not seen before swore under his breath in a strange language. Keelic stared at him.
His clothes were definitely not of a standard style, being made of real animal skin. Keelic could tell because he could smell them, and it was similar to a skirt Tamarin’s mother had.
His own mother quietly admonished him, "Don’t stare. It’s not polite."
Looking away for a few seconds satisfied her, and he went back to his scrutiny of the man. Long hair flowed over strong shoulders. He was unshaven like Father got on outings when he forgot to bring his shaver. The man noticed Keelic and looked at him before he could turn away. Cold yellow eyes looked him up and down, and then crinkled as the long face smiled savagely. The animal power and human cruelty of the smile frightened Keelic. He looked to his father for reassurance, but Father was pointing at something out the window.
A dark-blue creature soared past, banking sharply. Wings that seemed to brush ground and sky met in a long streamlined body. Slow and majestic, it curved around a Patamic stalk, out of which several large chunks had been taken. A wide dark tail stretched out behind, twisting as the creature maneuvered. Around the sleek head, four oblong, blue eyes gazed forward past a short rounded beak. As the flier came around, it opened its mouth and ripped a chunk out of the stalk near the base of the bulb. Floating lopsided, the bulb began to rise. The flier turned, going completely vertical, and sailed past the shuttle, which rocked in its wake. The passengers watched as the flier took a bite from the top of the bulb, leaving a gaping hole. Then entire structure fell twisting toward the distant forest.
The flier turned for the shuttle, but rather than flying past, it bent around the shuttle and encircled it, gazing in the windows with the two eyes on the underside of its head.
The shuttle swerved and rolled in the turbulence. Tensile-webs snapped on to hold passengers in their seats. Then the flier was gone and the pilot regained control. The cabin was silent until a woman began to cry. The man in skins chuckled.
The pilot’s voice said with a small tremor, "Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the Ermolian flier," and was quiet until they reached the hover port.
When they disembarked, Keelic said, "Dad, I gotta pee."
Both parents looked at him.
"Let’s find the hovercraft dealer first," Keelic’s father said.
"No. I gotta go."
"Okay, see that blue icon over there?" Father said, pointing at the sign Keelic had picked out as soon as they got off the shuttle.
Keelic would have run if he could. He entered the restroom outfitted for most of the Alliance races, and stopped. Standing at a urinal was the man in skins. And again, before Keelic could look away or retreat, the man looked at him.
"Ya wonder who I is, don’t ya, little boy," he said in poor Galactin.
Keelic felt a twinge of resentment at the term little.
The man grinned and said, "Ya will know soon enough," and walked out.
Keelic wrinkled his nose at the smell of the man, and went into a stall marked Human, where he locked the door securely.
Back with his parents, they found the hover dealer, who proceeded to talk Father into buying a fancier model than he and Mother had planned.
Minutes later they were soaring high over the Ermolian forests as Keelic and Father played with the gadgetry of the family’s new Hover Master XL Turbo Photon. Mother watched them with superior amusement.
Father noticed her expression. "What? What?"
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
He blushed, then grabbed Keelic’s hand before he could touch the propulsion field control.
"See how fast it can go," said Keelic.
Father looked at Mother for permission. She shook her head in exasperation and said, "Make sure you’re strapped in, Keelic." Then to Father, "Not too fast."
The acceleration pushed Keelic into his seat, and he watched in glee as the forest below flashed past. He looked at his parents. Neither of them would have even heard him back on Pesfor 3, or actually flown faster than two hundred klicks. He glanced at the speed, and was thrilled to see it reading eight hundred and fifty.
"We’re here!" sang out Father.
They decelerated to circle a hilltop where a three-towered house stood surrounded by steep meadows. A small river flowed sparkling aquamarine around the base of the hill, and a massive mountain range loomed to the north. Father landed on the hover pad, and Keelic jumped out.
Strange sounds and smells competed for his attention as they walked up the path to the house. Three-legged, long-necked creatures with mottled olive fur hopped through the wispy vegetation beside the path, pulling seed clusters off plant stalks as tall as Keelic. Animal calls sounded from the forest at the base of the hill, and strange creatures buzzed through the warm air.
The house was larger close up, and he had to crane his neck to look up at it. Three elegant towers styled after the ancient Earth Japanese and modern Vewbon towers rose over a triangular two-story base. Everywhere there were walls of glass, and balconies beneath upward-sweeping eaves. He sprinted up the path. Heavy double doors swung open for him, and he burst into a vaulted atrium.
"Anny?" he called.
"Hi, Kee! I’ve been waiting for you," said the house.
"Where’s my room?"
"Top of the north tower."
He ran throughout, discovering hideaway storage rooms, an exercise room, guest suites, libraries, studies, labs, and his own rooms on the top floor of the north tower. After an hour of following every passage, he began to understand what his parents meant when they had talked about having the house designed after the Vewbon. Despite the number of halls, rooms, and stairs, everything seemed to meet in various gathering areas, for the Vewbon believed that anything that could be enjoyed should be shared.
Sitting on his bed looking at the snow-capped mountains, he asked, "Any secret rooms or passages?"
Anny replied, "You will just have to find them yourself. If there are any."
He grinned, then asked, "Do you like it here, Anny?"
"I do. This new matrix is wonderful. I go all the way to the bedrock, and am about four times as big as I was on Pesfor 3. There is so much more to be aware of. The weather protocols I’m learning are amazing. This matrix is remarkably flexible. I’m even armed." The House-Ann paused. "It is taking some getting used to. It’s different, but comfortable. Your mother says lunch is ready."
While they ate, a cargo shuttle arrived with their things from the ship. Keelic watched for his own containers as a small army of auto-movers unloaded the shuttle.