"Total Escape" - Part 2
"We friends." S'Ondra calls out to her fellow Venusians, using the primitive syntax she learned in the crew's previous visit to the planet. Stooping, she picks up one of the roasting ganark and proffers it toward the darkness, "Come. Warm. Food."
Slowly, bedraggled and dirty Venusians start to appear on the edge of the fire's light. They gaze at the four space travellers with wide eyes, clustering together as if for protection. Waifishly thin children stare longingly at the food, but are held back by the adults, who are obviously unsure of the strangers' peaceful intentions.
Slowly, the Princess inches toward the Venusians, her hand outstretched with the food. Seeing them shy away, she places the ganark on a flat stone, then moves backwards, giving them plenty of room.
Tentatively, one of the older males comes forward and takes the food. He sniffs it critically, then takes a small bite. When he doesn't immediately choke and die, he edges back toward his companions and tears the ganark into pieces, handing it out to the children.
This seems to act as a signal that all is well. The Venusians crowd forward, drawing nearer the warmth and light of the fire, while Fury - trying to hide his relief - passes out the ganark and sopprik to people who actually seem eager to eat it.
"I know I have it somevhere." Gustav digs around in his bag, dumping all kinds of oddments on the dusty cave floor, "Ah! Here it is!" He produces the makeshift translator he constructed, blows off a piece of lint, and then twiddles a few knobs.
"Why you here?" he asks, his words translated into the contorted consonants of the Venusian tongue.
Several of the Venusians jump, staring fearfully at the stranger and his odd talking box, but one old man speaks up,
"Hide skypeople. Who you?"
"We gods." Fury intercedes calmly, ignoring the scowl he gets from S'Ondra.
"Why gods hide in earth?"
"We
earth gods."
The old man nods, as if accepting this logic.
"Earth gods destroy sky people?"
"Love to, old boy, if only someone hadn't removed all the weapons from the
Pathfinder." The translation machine chitters confusedly at Fury's complex reply, then does its best to interpret:
"Maybe."
One of the Venusian women peers closely at S'Ondra, brow wrinkled in confusion. Finally, she speaks,
"See you camp! How you here?"
"You see sister." S'Ondra ad libs.
"How sky people capture earth god sister?"
"Uh ..."
"She not captured." Gustav soothes, "She secret scout."
"Nice save, old boy. Couldn't have said it better myself."
"What sky people do?" S'Ondra gets things back on track.
"Catch us. Put in camps. Many caught." The old man shakes his head sadly, then looks proud, "Not we, though. We smart. Come dark place. Sky people not come dark place."
"Dark places safe." One of the other Venusians agrees, nodding vigorously.
"No sky people go dark places." A third concurs.
"We understand." Fury forestalls further belabouring of this plot point.
"We must investigate these camps and free my people!" S'Ondra announces.
"We vill need a plan." Gustav muses, "What do we have on us?"
"Dust." Archie observes, morosely.
"Talking rock!" The Venusians quail back from this strange phenomenon.
"We
earth gods." Fury reminds them.
"How far camp?" the Princess asks the old man who seems to be the Venusians' leader.
"Much march." he answers, looking relieved to be talking to a person, rather than a rock. "Whole light and dark time. People in camp strange."
"Strange how?"
"Very stupid." the response brings a snort from Fury, who earns a wicked glare from S'Ondra for his lack of self-control. The old man is oblivious to the interchange as he mimes a shambling, vacant look, "And work all time."
"Drugged, maybe." Fury muses, "To keep them pliant."
"Zat matches with what ze Targ scientists told us." Gustav nods.
"We have to go and help my people." S'Ondra repeats, clearly not interested in
why the Targ hold them prisoner, "We can free them and bring them back here, where they will be safe. There's plenty of room - these caves go back for miles."
"The camp is probably going to be heavily guarded." Fury cautions, "We may not be able to help them." Seeing the glint in S'Ondra's eye, he raises a hand, "I'm not saying we
won't help them. I'm just saying we need to know more about the situation before we try anything. If we go in half-cocked and get caught, we won't be able to help anybody."
"I zought going in half-cocked was your speciality, Captain."
"Princess, can you get the old man to tell you everything he knows about the camp, and how to get there?" Fury doesn't miss a beat, "I'll start collecting supplies. It sounds like we have a long journey ahead of us. Doc, you and Archie should seal up the ship and make sure the builder-bot knows not to let anyone else aboard."
As the crew springs into action, the camera sweeps away from the glowing fire, and into the blackness that consumes the rest of the cave. Then it rises up, out of the cave mouth and into the sky, and we see that it is after dark. Silvery stars glimmer in the purple-tinged Venusian night as S'Ondra leads the way out into the jungle.
"According to the old man, his group came along a ridge-line to get here. We follow that until we reach a river, then head upriver." the Princess expositions, "That'll bring us to some hills. The camp is on the other side of the range."
"How long did it take zem to do all this?"
"A day and a night, but they had children to slow them down." S'Ondra replies, "We should be able to reach the camp by first light."
"The Doc's not as young as he once was." Fury cautions, pitching his voice low.
"I vill be fine, Captain." Evidently there's nothing wrong with Gustav's hearing. "Archie, how is your new body dealing with ze terrain?"
"Everything is functioning perfectly." Archie scuttles across the ground, body bouncing a bit as he crosses some bumpy terrain. "Though I would much prefer to be on a less-dirty planet."
The four interplanar travellers set out across the alien Venusian landscape. The jungle is filled with strange and jagged shapes: palm-like trees with razor-sharp leaves, spike-studded cacti, and tangles of thorn-covered vines.
"Good grief." Fury steps cautiously around one of the bloated cacti, "Is there anything on this planet that isn't covered in spikey bits?"
S'Ondra thinks about it.
"Not really."
"Venusian fauna and flora is quite fascinating." Gustav offers enthusiastically, "It was while I was studying zese things zat S'Ondra came into my care. Zat cactus not only has spines, Captain Fry, but its flesh is also extremely sweet and succulent -"
"Really?" Fury looks hungry.
"- it is, unfortunately, also highly toxic."
The journey continues, the crew of the
Pathfinder tramping through a series of tangled, purple-lit scenes. They clamber long inclines, scramble down slopes, and splash across small streams. Finally, Fury moves up beside S'Ondra.
"Are you sure about the old man's directions?" he asks, glancing around, "Shouldn't we have reached that river by now? Maybe we should have gone left, at that large rock, earlier."
"It's this way." S'Ondra says, pointing firmly in the direction they have been heading.
"Fine." Fury raises his empty hands in a show of placation, "This way it is." He strides purposefully forwards, out front of the group, and then suddnely vanishes from sight with a squawk of surprise."
"Captain!" three voices exclaim as one. Gustav starts to rush forward, but S'Ondra holds him back.
"Careful. There's a cliff-edge, just ahead." the Princess edges forward and peers over the edge, her father just behind her. "Captain, are you alright?"
"Just peachy." Fury's voice floats up from the darkness, and then we see him, clinging to the crumbling earthen wall of a cliff. "I've always wanted to try abseiling, though I hear it works better if you've got a rope."
"Look on ze bright side, Captain." Gustav points downwards. Hundreds of feet below Fury, foaming white water can dimly be seen crashing against a series of jagged rocks. "You've found ze river."
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