Chapter 4: The Sandy Hamlet

It was a little past 3 pm. On the planet of Denji’Kei, the port of We’Tan’Nok, the capital was little more than a small hub, a tiny city with various buildings spread apart over a lush green and yellow landscape. With the planet’s poles less exposed to the direct sunlight, it was generally cooler and had more liquid water. Various mountains and hills helped further keep the planet’s dust storms from reaching the area. Even the city was connected to a 2-kilometer-long lake. For the world itself, it might as well have been Denji’Kei’s only oasis.

While the oxygen content was generally lower, it wasn’t detrimental. Darin, Natch, Czarek, and Feri’nita had left the shuttle behind, prowling through the outer edge of We’Tan’Nok on foot.

At first glance, Darin noted that much of We’Tan’Nok looked similar to places such as Tombstone, Arizona; Fort Worth, Texas; Deadwood, South Dakota; or the Australian outback towns, but with notable differences. Most of the administrative centers or business sectors lie in the center, where they naturally spread out to the outlying houses of the city border. However, as Darin observed the area more closely, he began to picture it as something like a smaller Japanese town spread across a more savannah-like landscape. Even the city’s busiest section, the local port for freighters and transports to land, was little more than a large flat landing pad with hard, rocky dirt.

While it could have been described as a Wild West environment, the Itrean décor and construction techniques made the place seemingly more serene. The buildings themselves were akin to Asian-style work, such as former China or Japan on Earth. This would include pagoda-like structures, mostly one to two stories tall. How the wood was available to make them was more of a mystery at first, but there were hints of metal construction to fill any void left by the lack of other building materials. Most likely, various spaceships had been scrapped over hundreds of thousands of years to make such a city possible. Generally, the nicer buildings lie closer to the lake. Despite all of it, We’Tan’Nok’s history was ancient, seemingly stagnant, and never-ending.

Darin and the other four walked through the crowded street of We’Tan’Nok. In this area, there was no room for cars to travel, even though no real vehicles had been spotted in the vicinity at all. Cobbled stone streets filled near the center of the city, but naturally faded into dirt when it reached the outer border of the city.

“So this is what an alien town looks like,” Czarek commented.

“Hmmm...” Natch added. “An Itrean city untouched and barely moved by the outside. A hundred thousand years, and the people know their land, their home. They hold great respect for the world and its nature.”

“Well, I suppose it’s better than Earth. If only in Europe, we could walk outside without our nuts rotting off in the process. Nothing exciting though. Where’s the cars? You think with all this land, they would have plenty of places to go racing, go skydiving, have fun, and shit.”

“We can’t afford them,” Feri’nita said. “To us, food and water are a luxury. We choose to be easy. We rarely have children due to the lack of food.”

“Are your people starving?” Natch asked her.

“No, but it depends on where you are and your caste. We have enough food on this planet to sustain us, but just barely. We learn to use our limited resources wisely.”

“Unlike you,” Czarek poked fun at her.

“A person, such as myself, has all the right to indulge, dearie. You’ll often find that many Owea’eep are much heavier than I. Even with my parents’ riches, I still have a hard time reaching my intended weight.”

“You mean that you take up a building, while the others take up a mountain?”

“More like when I jump into We’Tan’Nok’s lake, I create a tidal wave. For the others, they flood entire cities.”

She said that with a smile and with all due pride. It was unknown to Darin if Czarek was always trying to insult Feri’nita, but seemingly enjoying her counterarguments and poking fun at her in the process. In the end, Czarek was absolutely failing in hopes of embarrassing the Itrean.

Most of the native population traveled on foot, and the short distances between places made it easy anyway. The talon feet of the common Yutilian could more than handle the coarse, sandy, cobbled roads. Most of the Itreans tend to wear various dresses, some similar to what Feri’nita wore. Others wore wide ponchos, and a few had a combination of a poncho and a long, satin-like dress that fell to their legs and tails, somewhat reminiscent of traditional Chinese dresses but with more flair. Very few gave off a shimmering look, and no color was the same.

Many of the Itreans looked at the humans with wonder and curiosity as Darin would lightly tip his hat to them in a gesture of hello. For the shorter alien women, it was obvious that this was their first time seeing the humans. However, most of them stayed away, preferring to be inside their homes or businesses. They noted that the band of humans was armed, but it was no different from the few Itrean women who carried small pistols at their waists. Their reptilian eyes would stare with great intensity towards the humans and the lone Itrean as they walked by.

“So, what’s our first stop?” the jump trooper asked.

“Well,” Feri’nita explained. “Our first place won’t be my house.”

“I’m surprised to hear you say that,” Natch questioned her. “What about your parents? Or in this case, your mother?”

“ ... Mamas gone...,” she answered back. “She ... killed herself four years ago.”

“ ... I’m sorry. For her to willingly give up on life so easily.”

“She was in love with my father so much,” she remarked with a few clicks in her voice. “After Zilik’s Disease took her mate, she was never the same.”

“I see ... Forgive me for bringing it up.”

“No, it’s ok,” she spun in her walk to look at the towering Native American. “I was old enough to take care of myself. She only wished to stay alive in some hope that he would somehow come back. She was already reaching near the age of Hoi’ka.”

“Hoi’ka?” Natch asked.

“I don’t know how to say it without it making sense. She was quite old when she met my father, before she wanted a baby.”

“Oh ... oh...,” Czarek remarked with a hint of disgust. “Wait, your mother was ready to kick the bucket anyway?”

“Yes. My father was quite young, being in his early fifties when he died.”

“Wait a minute, how old are you, anyway?”

“In your unit of measurement, thirty-six.”

“Your mother’s age?”

“190.”

“Now that gets even more confusing. You’re telling me that your dad was what? 16 or something when you were born.”

“Yes,” Feri’nita answered.

“But ... that’s like grandma robbing the cradle, crazy.”

“Why do you say that? My father chose wisely, becoming a mate with the overseer of shipping in We’Tan’Nok. In time, he was trained and served the job better than she did. That and the fact that he...”

“No, no,” Czarek replied, waving his hand. “I mean, one is very old, while the other is just past puberty. It would be like squeezing a dick in a sand pit, with how old that...”

“Czarek...,” Darin interrupted him, gesturing to him to stop with the misguided taunts.

Feri’nita seemed confused at first, before she understood what he was getting at.

“Ah...,” she said. “No, we aren’t like you, humans. We regenerate. Only our brains get old. Our bodies look very much the same as we grow older. We can still have babies years before we reach Hoi’ka. We might have a wrinkle or two on our faces, but it’s nothing like what you humans have.”

“Whoa...,” Czarek remarked. “So, any of those ladies that I see walking around...?”

“Could be twenty, could be fifty, could be two hundred and fifty. Hoi’ka is the only thing that stops us. Anywhere from two hundred, nobody past three hundred. We never encourage having babies past 170 because we don’t want single-parent families.”

“Holy shit ... so you’re telling me that I could meet an Itrean and never know she was ancient?”

“No ... if anything, she may be better in mating as she gets older, dearie. Many times, we become mates and outlive the other. Older widows make perfect mates for humans who live shorter lives. Unlike my dear, Darin. He’s going to live for a very long time.”

Czarek nodded his head as he looked at the various Itrean women. Almost every Itrean was that of a Yutilian. The former Velociraptor species was prevalent here. However, Darin saw that one of them was a T’rintar Aksren. The oviraptor species were almost the same size and height as the Yutilians, but carried green and brown scales, unlike the more brown and red of the traditional Aksren people. They were also notable for their lack of feathers, with a nose crest that extended to their snout. Most, if not all, of the Yutilians typically carried brown scales more reminiscent of the denizens of the Gui’optre Kingdom, with only the differences in the feather colors.

“We’re getting sidetracked,” Darin said, shifting the bag of belongings over his shoulders. “What’s the first stop for us?”

The group was approaching the town center square. Cobbled stones would accumulate in the center, forming a low, circular wall that led to the other streets. Here, a small lantern lay over the area when the city naturally grew dark. On the wall was a set of pamphlets and posters mounted over the stones. The paper, more reminiscent of papyrus woven fabric, consisted of the Itrean alphabet. This would include lettering almost reminiscent of Kanji, but rising and shifting in shapes and sizes, with characters forming paragraphs for the Itreans to read and understand. A few consisted of ad hoc-constructed tylons, metal rods split open to display Itrean text only.

“Ah...,” Feri’nita remarked. “I might have your answers now...”

The group paused as the heavyset Itrean began reading the various posted signs. Darin noted that one of the posters displayed a picture of a Shal’rein, crudely drawn. There wasn’t even a proper picture of what she was supposed to look like. The only thing that he could observe was that the hair flowed down completely to the left side, leaving the other side completely bald.

“Hmmm...,” Feri’nita mumbled, making a few clicks in her voice.

“What are these?” Czarek asked.

“Notices,” Darin answered. “One of them was a wanted poster.”

“Mmm ... you’re correct,” Feri’nita said. “There’s more, though. This is the help wanted ... how you would say... ‘Bulletin?’ We’Tan’Nok, we have our version of a UWAN, but it’s barely used. We prefer to stay as disconnected with the outside as possible, paying only the local tribute to Gui’optre when needed.”

“Tribute?” Czarek questioned.

“Taxes, Czarek,” Darin answered. “It’s the local kingdom after all, and the queen needs her money. A promise from the distant duchess to protect you in exchange for your wealth. It isn’t much, I reckon.”

“It’s not much,” Feri’nita said. “Our small wealth ensures that we receive a very small defense in case we were attacked. As I recall, the last tribute we paid was over six years ago.”

“Probably explains why our warship was the only one hovering over your world. You really do like to live next to the wolves without a fence to protect your livestock.”

“Even during this war, we barely needed help.”

“I’d reckon, but then again, I see the wanted poster on the wall.”

“I’m checking to see the city’s news,” she explained. “Most of these are help wanted, promise to pay for our services.”

“We don’t need money.”

“This isn’t just for us, my mate. This is for everyone, working in exchange for money, food, and goods. I used to use this spot just as much as everyone else.”

“And how often did they respond?” Natch asked.

“Hmm,” Feri’nita briefly turned her head to look at the Native American behind her. “It depends ... a month, maybe a year, sometimes never.”

“Great...,” Czarek said, shifting the rifle on his shoulder. “Seeking information, and we’re relying on a bulletin board thousands of light-years from home.”

“About that wanted poster,” Darin said as he stepped forward to stand aside Feri’nita. “What’s it say?”

“It’s from...,” Feri’nita paused as she read it. “It’s from my friend, one of my friends in the town of Jiqua’nyu, about 32 kilometers away near the Nyu’a Hills. It’s one of the farthest towns west of We’Tan’Nok.”

“What about her?”

“She ... has bandit problems.”

“Bandits?” Czarek asked.

Feri’nita removed the paper from the wall and read it closely, turning to look at the group behind her.

“Jiqua’nyu is reporting an attack from the Shal’rein,” Feri’nita explained. “Killed or kidnapped one of the Jiqua’nyu ... stealing water from the town. This picture drawn is one of the Shal’rein, what they might look like. My friend is offering a good reward, money, services, anything we need in exchange for help.”

“Shal’rein?” Natch wondered. “Why would the Shal’rein attack a town and steal water instead of invading your world?”

“I don’t know. I managed to get a hold of Swi’ya ... that’s her name. Before we departed for the planet, she reported trouble, but she didn’t go into detail about it.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask her further.”

“I have several friends here. Swi’ya is a distant friend ... she chose to move far away, before settling in Jiqua’nyu.”

“She sounds more like an associate than a friend,” Natch concluded.

Feri’nita did her quick nods. Darin held his hand out to retrieve the wanted poster. She handed it over to him before the cowboy looked at it closely.

“How many Shal’rein are we talkin about?” Darin asked.

“It doesn’t say,” his wife replied. “It’s only based on one eyewitness and what she saw.”

“ ... Wanted: Dead or alive...,” the cowboy said, feeling a calling hit his soul. “This just might be the break we needed.”

“In what way?” Natch asked him.

“Think about it, Natch. We got the T’rintar Shal’rein and the Shal’rein from their original worlds. The T’rintar Shal’rein are mighty nice, but the Shal’rein clan denizens themselves can be as vicious as a bull in a China shop. It’s as you said before. If the Shal’rein clan wanted to conquer this world, they would just launch an attack and take it, but we haven’t seen that, have we? ... hadn’t happen in 200,000 years either. Something happened to make them change their minds. But then again, why do it on a small scale? Why take the few resources to sustain themselves? It’s as Feri’nita says ... we’re dealing with bandits, the thuggery, the riffraff and the tomfoolery that abounds from the great town beyond. These aren’t just Shal’rein soldiers, Natch. These are Shal’rein rogues ... privateers out in the frontier ... the people we might just be lookin for ... Our answers lie here ... in Jiqua’nyu...”