Chapter 24: First Contact

Island Day 18 -19

Chen POV (Cont’d):

It never fails.

One moment of inattention threatened to unravel all the plans I’d made! Annie and I had just landed near a clearing, quickly looked around, then dropped our invisibility, only to get caught in the act by what appeared to be a young American Indian boy. He must have been hiding in the woods and saw us materialize out of nowhere.

I was just going to get Annie to tell me her secret, when from behind us we heard a young voice, “How did you get here?”

The kid, maybe 7 to 8 years old had a wild-eyed expression on his face, “Are you two... wizards?”

His English was surprisingly good and our appearance hadn’t frightened him too much, since he didn’t run away from us.

Annie dropped to one knee, “No, we’re just regular folks, like you. Do you live around here? We’re a bit lost I think.”

He slowly walked closer to us, “Our village is that way just a short distance.” He said, pointing to the trail leading away from the coast. “My Papa was fishing with my two brothers. Did you hear that loud noise? It scared me and that’s why I was hiding.” He added, pointing to the thick woods, explaining why we didn’t see him at first.

“I need to see if they heard that noise, too!” He exclaimed, as he began running toward the beach.

Annie asked me, “Should we go and see if they’re alright? What if they can’t swim?”

“Ugh, yeah we probably should. Let’s try and catch up to that kid.” I said as the two of us began running after him.

We’d just caught up when he gasped, pointing at the upside-down canoe, which looked like a big log, a couple hundred feet from shore. “Oh no! They tipped over and my brothers don’t know how to swim! Save them Mister Wizard, please save them!?”

There were two older boys, desperately clinging to their canoe, with their father trying to swim the boat in by kicking his feet in the water.

Before I could stop her, Annie pointed at the boat and it suddenly began moving much faster toward shore. She was using her TK, not remembering that we DIDN’T want to do that here! Somewhere I could just hear a psychic detection device going off like a damn slot machine hitting the Jackpot!

“Um, Annie? You shouldn’t be doing that!”

She looked at me like I was the biggest horse’s ass in the universe, “I’m NOT going to let them drown! It’s our damn fault they’re in that predicament. We gotta save them!”

Hopefully, the three in the water wouldn’t notice just how fast they were coming up to the beach.

The father, however, must have noticed and looked up. He saw us and his youngest, whose eyes were like softballs. He was watching Annie, with her arms outstretched, then curling up, as she pulled them closer.

The lad gasped, “Papa, Papa, the wizards are saving you!”

As their boat scrubbed the now shallow bottom, they all let go and stood up. The two teens scrambled onto the beach, but, the father seemed frightened, just standing there in the water.

I waved him in, “Come on, it’s alright, we won’t hurt you. My lady was afraid you might drown.”

“But, but, are you not wizards? I have no coin to repay you. Please don’t take my sons away from me?” He pleaded.

Hmmm, how interesting. Something tells me there’s a story here and I’m going to find out what it is! I thought to myself.

I shouted, but as calmingly as I could, “Do not worry. We do not expect to be paid. We would never take your sons from you.”

’Now, if you had some pretty daughters? Well, best I don’t go there!’

Annie must have heard my thoughts since she punched me in the shoulder, giggling, “Naughty boy!”

I whispered to Annie, “They had no trouble thinking we were some kind of wizards. I wonder if there are more of them around here?”

Annie nodded, “And, I’d like to know how they managed to not get noticed?”

“Exactly!” I said, patting her on the back.

The father looked out to sea, “I fear we will not have any fish to trade today. We must go back out to try and catch a few for supper.”

When I looked out, I noticed many fish floating on the surface. Our sonic boom must have stunned them! I pointed, “If you had some nets, you could just wade out and scoop them up! Whatever made your boat tip over, must have stunned them. Hurry, before they wake up!”

He turned the boat over and untied a huge net from inside. He had his sons wade out, with them holding one end of the 20-foot-long net while he held the other. Within minutes their net was full to capacity and the fish were showing signs of regaining consciousness.

They struggled to haul it up onto shore, so Annie and I gave them a hand. Physically, not mentally, although the father was wary, “You used your powers again to help us?”

“No, just our muscles. These fish don’t seem all that heavy to me?”

“It will take us many trips to get all of these to our village. This is more than we catch in three days. You have helped us again! Will you stay and eat with us?”

“Sure, if that would not be too much trouble?” (I really wanted to learn more about these guys and the wizards!)

We learned that the young boys name was ‘Hootie’ as the father sent him ahead to get help with their ‘motherlode’ of a catch.

He set off at a dead run, eager to please his ‘Papa’.

The village couldn’t have been too far away, for, by the time the father and his other two sons had the canoe emptied of water and stowed on shore, 10 to 12 people suddenly showed up carrying big woven baskets.

Most were topless women and teenage girls, curious to see the huge amount of fish still in the nets. We watched as they took short, fat sticks out of their baskets and knocked out each fish before putting them into their baskets.

One young girl was struggling with her huge basket, so Annie grabbed one side to help. “What is your name, Little one?” Annie asked.

“I am Rose.” She giggled, “because of my red hair, I think?”

“You’re very pretty, my name is Annie and my... ‘Mate’s’ name is Lin Su Chen. You can just call him Chen!” She giggled.

She smiled expectantly at Annie, “Is it true? Hootie says you two are wizards!”

I chuckled, “The lad talks too much! I don’t think we’re really wizards. If we were, would we be dressed like this?”

Rose giggled, “I have never seen one, so I do not know. The Chief and Medicine Man have told us many stories about them. They never say how they dress.”

Another, older girl with nice, pert tits came up, having heard Rose and Annie talking, “My name is Morning Dove. Chief Running Buck say wizards wear long white robes! Annie does look like a wizard! She does not dress like us.”

Annie giggled, “Well, this is called a sundress. Trust me, it ain’t no robe!”

Another girl, or woman pinched Morning Dove’s earlobe, “Do not bother our guests! They have helped Papa Proud Feather get us a big catch.” She looked at me, then slightly puffed out her generous chest, adorned with huge, succulent nipples, I am Proud Feathers wife, Mookie.”

I pried my eyes from her lovely wares, “Nice to meet you, Mookie. Are these two lovely girls your daughters?”

“Yes, when they are behaving themselves!” She cheerfully scoffed, “Morning Dove likes teasing the young men and one of these days is going to get her bottom filled with something she does not expect!”

I damn near bit my tongue off, holding back a knowing laugh. This Mookie was a pistol! She was staring me right in the eye, knowing I knew exactly what she meant.

And never blushed! I wondered if old Proud Feather shared? I sure wouldn’t mind going a few rounds with her!

“You dirty ole Man!” I ‘heard’ Annie think at me.

Mookie stopped suddenly, “Who is a dirty old man? Who said that?” She was looking all around before cocking her head at me.

I took a chance, “Well, that would be me! My Annie said that, but, she didn’t really SAY that!?” I mentally replied.

Now Mookie was slack jawed, just staring at me, “You speak the silent language of our forefathers!?” She whispered.

I held my finger in front of my mouth, “Shhh, let’s keep that a secret, okay?”

“Yes, there are big, ugly, evil ones who will take you away if they find you can do that!” She whispered cautiously.

“Have you seen these ‘big, ugly evil ones’, Mookie?”

“Yes! The last time they came I was in the forest, so they did not see me. They had a small square thing and selected all of those who were talking silently, including our Medicine Man and Pole Dancer, who was my special friend. Pole Dancer saw me in the forest and motioned with his hands for me to keep quiet. We never saw any of our people again!”

“How long ago was that?”

“About two Sun Cycles.”

“Sun cycles, what’s that?”

Mookie giggled, “You are not from around here, are you? Everyone knows there are 10 Moon Cycles to every Sun Cycle!”

I chuckled, knowing I appeared to be an idiot, “Dare I ask how many days are there in a Moon Cycle?”

“What is a day? Do you mean one darkness and light?”

“Yes, where we come from, we call that a day. So...?”

She giggled, “Then there are 50 of your days to one Moon Cycle. What would you call that?”

“Ahhh, we would call one Moon Cycle, a month! And ten would be a year, or one Sun Cycle.”

She giggled, “Your words are strange, but simple. I must talk to our Chief about using your words. So ... where are you from, then?”

I chuckled and pointed to the sky, “A very long way from here. We are from a different planet, called Earth.”

“Do you have a flying bowl, like the big, ugly ones?”

‘No. We were placed here by ... accident? We were testing a device and it sent us here. We are stuck here now with no way back. That is why Annie and I have come to visit and make friends with you. We really aren’t wizards, but, some of us do have some powerful abilities! Perhaps we can help you if those big, ugly suckers come back?”

Mookie laughed, delightfully, “More like boar-faces than suckers. We call those leaches.”

Now I laughed, “Leaches, well, they are that too, are they not? They ‘suck’ your people away without asking?”

“I like you, Mr Chen! You have a way with the words that makes sense, but, makes me laugh as well.”

“And I find you delightful as well, Mookie! Are we almost to your village?”

She gave me an impish grin, “Yes. Do you grow weary of me so soon? Proud Feather say I sometimes talk too much.”

I gently squeezed her shoulder and neck, “Never! I could talk with you for many moons!”

She giggled again, then reached out and patted my cock, “Shall I ask Proud Feather to share me tonight?”

Annie started giggling loudly and turned around, “You are likely to get your bottom filled many, many times if that happens, Mookie. Maybe I should ask Proud Feather to share with me, too?”

Mookie’s green-eyed monster stepped up, “Oh no you don’t! If Proud Feather has you ... even once, I will never be able to make him happy again! You are much too pretty ... for a wizard!” She giggled, making Annie giggle with her.

“Mama likes to tease, too!” Morning Dove chirped, earning her a motherly scoff.

Soon, we entered a big clearing. There were many grass/bamboo huts with thatched roofs. There were many young kids running around and I quickly noticed a distinct lack of men. There were some older men, but almost none in the 18 to 35-year-old range.

We were introduced to Chief Running Buck.

He didn’t look like an Indian Chief. He wore no fancy headdress, just a leather band holding back his long, white mane. While the ladies quickly went to work cleaning the fish, we were asked to sit and were soon joined by the Medicine man and several tribal elders. Many children and others gathered behind us, eager to find out about who these two strange people were.

And tall.

I’m only 5’8” tall, shortest of all the men on our island, but I was a good 4” taller than the Chief. Annie, at 5’5” tall was also taller than most of the men and all of the women. I had to wonder what they would think if we’d brought Tiny (6’8” and 250+Lbs) or even Max at 6’4”, 210Lbs. They would be veritable giants to these people.

The Chief got right to it, “Young Hootie says you saved them with your wizardry? Mookie tells me that you are not wizards, but, like us, only with some special powers. She also said you speak the old silent language and in fact spoke with her?”

“Yes Chief, we come looking to make friends and forming alliances against the alien, Gromoriks.” He gave a strange look until I added, “The large, ugly, evil, boar-faced ones, who took many of your people away?”

He smiled, “Any enemy of them is a friend to us! We lost most of our able bodied young men to them as well as our most gifted ‘silent talkers’ and our most gifted Medicine Man, Floating Cloud, who could float as if a feather.

I grinned at Annie and we both levitated about 5 feet high. They all gasped, then the Chief warned, “You should not do that. That is what Floating Cloud was doing when the evil ones came and took him up into their bowl. Then a while later they took Pole Dancer, doing the same thing. Thank you for showing us, I just needed to warn you. I do not wish to lose our new friends! Mookie say you have friends who also have powers? Are they like you?”

“Yes, there are six of us ... and four little dogs. The dogs are perhaps even more powerful than we are!” I chuckled, to the assembled groups amazement.

“Dogs? What are dogs?”

Annie giggled, “They’re man’s best friends! They walk on four legs, bark, chase small animals and generally act cute. They are easily trained to do simple tasks and are always faithful to their masters. You don’t have dogs here?”

I looked around, but didn’t see any or anything like them. I took a chance, hoping the Gromoriks weren’t monitoring, since I knew they were getting ready to get on their boat. I summoned Zeus, “Hey Buddy, do you want to teleport to me? We’ve made some new friends, but, they don’t know what a dog is!?”

I heard him chuckle, “I guess. Get ready, I’m teleporting into your lap!”

I sat back, “Our doggie, Zeus will be here in just a second!”

Before they knew it, Zeus appeared in my lap! He barked (Yipped?) a few times then ran around to greet everyone.

“He likes to be petted on his back and behind his little ears. Don’t worry, he won’t bite! Just don’t pull his little tail.” I instructed everyone.

He was an instant hit, especially with the young girls. They were all giggling and petting him as he licked their hands and faces. That just made them happier and they started chasing him around, which had Zeus laughing, telling me he was having a lot of fun. The Chief and Elders seemed amused, seeing how little Zeus had captivated even some of the older ladies. Zeus rolled on his back and was getting petted when Mookie and another lady screamed in alarm, “CHIEF, IT’S THE KILLER BIRDS! RUN!”

I was shocked when I saw 6 giant Cassowaries running and screeching toward the camp from the wood line. I’d seen them in Australia, but these were gigantic ... and Cassowaries are mean as hell. Imagine an ostrich, only half again bigger with a despicable attitude, razor sharp claws and large powerful beaks.

Mookie and her friends, who had been cleaning fish, went running for their hut. Then, just as the Cassowaries were approaching them, Zeus ran barking like hell, right at them.

Annie yelled, “No Zeus! Get back here! They’ll kill you!”

But, our little buddy had other ideas.

Consequences be damned and he instantly turned into a 10 foot firebreathing dragon and commenced to turning five of them into giant bar-b-que briquettes, right in their tracks.

The last one was almost to Mookie when I picked it up with my TK so Zeus could flame-broil the fucker! He thanked me for the ‘assist’ and asked if I thought this thing might taste like chicken?

That got me to laughing so hard, I damn near dropped it before he could finish flame-broiling it! Once he had it two steps past ‘well-done’, I dropped it and saw everyone watching us with open-mouthed awe.

Zeus quickly returned to his cute Chihuahua form and ran around looking for pets and belly rubs, quickly bringing the mood back to normal. Or, almost normal.

The Tribal Chief, Running Buck stood and took my shoulders in his hands, “I do not know what to say. You and your ... DOG ... saved many of my people. The last time those creatures attacked our village, there were only two, and they killed 5 of our people before our warriors could hurt them enough to force them to flee.

With the attack now thwarted and his people saved, the Chief proved to be a wealth of knowledge.

While we ate, we had several interesting conversations. He told us there were 7 other ‘tribes’ like his that were all separate, but had what amounted to ‘peace treaties’ with each other. They were all spread out on what I figured was the western 1/3 of the peninsula, based on his descriptions.

On the map Ibera had sent us, some of the boundary lines started to make sense now.

He said that further to the East there were ‘white men’, like Annie and me who had vast empires and none of the Indian tribes had much to do with them. They didn’t have a treaty, per se, but they also did not attack or terrorize each other. Especially since the appearance of the ‘Ugly Ones’ some 6 Sun Cycles ago.

Based on what he said, I had a feeling it might behoove us to try and make contact with some of these Empires’ leaders. When I asked if any of them had any ‘wizards’ he said he didn’t know, but had never heard of any. The wizards Hootie had been referring to were all Indian natives, some from different tribes.

When I asked Zeus how much longer he planned on staying he chuckled, “Are you growing impatient, Mr Chen? I suppose you want to continue your quest for ‘Planet-wide’ domination?”

WHOA. How the hell did he figure THAT out? Maybe he was just kidding? I gotta act cool here.

“Well, we do need to try and get as many natives on our side as possible, don’t we?”

He barked, then I heard him LAUGH, “Nice parry of my question! Don’t think for a second I don’t know what you’re really up to!”

Damn! How could he ... SHIT, I forgot ... HE could probably read minds! I must be like an open book to him!

“Okay, but, before you get mad, I wasn’t going to do anything that could hurt any of my friends!? Are you going to strip my powers away now?”

The sucker laughed some more, “Hell no! It’s going to take someone with your devious mind to pull off what I know needs to be done! And I’ve already told Annie she can be your ‘willing’ assistant. Just know that I’ll be watching you. If you do good, who knows, maybe I’ll let you be the planet’s Governor? From what I’ve learned, these Empires’ Kings or Lords are screwed up like Hogan’s Goat! But, we need to convince these Gromoriks to leave before you’ll ever be able to rule as Governor.”

Son of a bitch! Zeus is just as devious as I am! Maybe more?

“Okay, so, what’s the catch? What do YOU want me to do?”

“Get moving, just like you’re planning. I’m going to stay here for a while longer and continue making friends with these people. Then I’ll port back to the island. I just wanted you to know I’m watching you!” He said, then his right paw pointed at his eyes then back to mine. Twice. In rapid succession.