Chapter 2

My clothing I had put together myself, before coming to this forsaken place. Since I wasn't being limited to low technology, I designed the clothing using a very dense fabric. It was very close to impenetrable without a laser cutting tool. Though I was still vulnerable to blunt impacts, these clothes would turn aside most attempts to stab or cut me.

I had padded the forearms with a material that absorbed kinetic energy particularly well. This meant that I could use my forearms to ward off or shield blows from clubs or other blunt weapons. In addition to their defensive properties, the clothes were also extremely durable. Simply rinsing them off was enough to clean the incredibly useful fabric. They were able to maintain warmth, extremely well. I would be comfortable in these clothes unless I got stuck in a snowstorm or encountered extreme heat. I had several spare sets of clothing made in the same fashion, back in my cave.

Having dressed, I began inspecting my equipment. Everything had been handled, but my guess was that these people hadn't been able to figure out the purpose of most of it. Luckily, everything here had been designed so that casual handling wouldn't damage it.

The first thing I picked up was the gun. It was a small palm-sized weapon. It was really only appropriate for defense, but it was very effective in those circumstances. The rounds were incredibly dense and were propelled at incredible velocities. To top it off, they fragmented upon impact, causing several fragments to be projected through the victim's body, rendering horrific internal damage. A single hit, particularly to the torso, would almost inevitably be lethal, even if you had modern medical care.

There weren't very many modern medical facilities around here, though. The gun also incorporated biometric security, which would not allow anyone but those I designated to fire it. The downside was that the weapon only carried a few rounds at a time, so I could be overwhelmed by enough people. It also wasn't particularly accurate beyond a short distance.

Having checked the gun for damage, I holstered it and checked out the knives. I had six of them.

Four of them were perfectly weighted throwing knives. Though I didn't consider myself particularly proficient in their use, I was able to hit a target most of the time. If my gun wasn't functional for whatever reason, these were a means of extending force beyond my melee range.

One of the other knives was about a foot and a half long. Really, it would probably be considered a short sword by most weapons experts. The last knife was a utility knife. It was meant to be used in a wide variety of miscellaneous tasks.

All of the blades were made of a hardened metal alloy that had several extremely useful properties. Not only was it lightweight, but it also would not dull or rust. The blades had been honed to a molecular edge, allowing them to cut through virtually anything. They were probably the only tools of any type, on this entire planet, that could cut through the fabric of my clothes.

Now that my weapons were accounted for, I picked up my display. This unit was capable of connecting wirelessly to my PAD. In truth, it was fully functional all on its own. However, since my PAD was more powerful, I slaved the display to that. It allowed me to display information in a manner that others could see. It also doubled as a holographic projector, video and sound recorder, and an external interface for my PAD.

Satisfied that the important equipment was functional, I quickly repacked my tunic with the other odds and ends, including the small amount of food I had brought along. I turned to see that Enyi had apparently been watching this entire process in fascination.

"Where is your spear?" she asked.

"I don't use a spear," I said with a smile.

"How can you hunt without a spear?" she asked incredulously. The idea I could hunt without a spear was apparently a foreign concept to her mind.

I thought a moment about how to respond, since she wouldn't likely understand without me telling her of things that I would like to keep more or less secret, such as the gun.

"My people have a different way of hunting," I told her hesitantly. "If I hunt my way, I don't need to use a spear. I use different tools, instead. Maybe I will show your people the secret of how I hunt."

She thought about the answer for a moment, while I continued to pack the miscellaneous odds and ends. Suddenly, she developed a stricken look on her face. She didn't say anything, but I could tell she was upset about something.

"What is wrong?" I asked her.

She seemed to almost jump when I spoke.

"I am sorry," she said tensely. "I didn't know you were a shaman."

This made me frown, puzzled.

"What makes you think I'm a shaman?" I asked.

"Only the shamans have secret knowledge," she answered, as if stating the obvious. She had apparently keyed in on the word 'secret'. I had to smile, which made her cringe in response.

"I am no shaman," I told her. "I come from a tribe that has shamans that have many secrets. Just like your shaman shows you things to help the people in your tribe, I learned many things from the shamans in my tribe."

This seemed to calm her down a bit. Judging from her reaction, it was extremely bad form to question a shaman in this culture. I carefully noted that, before I moved back to finish my work.

"You can ask me anything you want," I continued. "I promise not to be offended."

"What are those?" she asked, pointing to a sealed trail-mix bar. They were the last things that I typically put in the pack.

They were good provisions for marching, or for stealth teams. I decided that it would be easier to show her than to tell her. I picked it up, tore the seal, and handed half of it to her.

I used a little sleight of hand to roll the foil between my hands quickly for a moment and drop it while pretending to put it in my pocket. The heat caused a chain reaction that incinerated the foil a few moments after it left my hand.

"It is food," I said.

I demonstrated by eating my half of the bar. She cautiously sniffed it, then ate it. Her eyes widened as she tasted it, and she quickly licked her fingers for crumbs. Personally, I thought that the bars were a bit bland, but I guess for someone in a hunter/gatherer society, it was a very unique taste.

"Where do these grow?" she asked excitedly.

I wasn't ready to explain about manufacturing, or replication for that matter, so I dodged the question.

"They come from very far away," I told her. "You can't find any nearby."

She gave me another inexplicable look. She apparently decided that I was dodging the question.

"Come," she said. "Hegen will be waiting for you."

She walked out of the tent, and I followed her. The light was painful after several days in the dark tent. I felt Enyi's hand on my arm, to steady me. I staggered from my abrupt near-blindness. It took me several moments to recover. After said recovery, I took a long look around the camp.

Most of the tents in the camp were large enough for four or five people to sleep in, comfortably. There were a few smaller ones mixed in, presumably for individuals. They were few and far between. All of these tents made a large circle. In the inner ring of the circle were several huge tents. They were big enough to hold a dozen people or so, each.

Inside this inner ring was the center of the encampment. It was an open space, with a fire as the main attraction. Several felled trees had been dragged here to provide seating around, and fuel for, the camp fire. A few racks were being used to dry and stretch animal skins. They were placed in strategically out-of-the-way places.

The tent we had come from was close to the inner ring of tents. Enyi led me to the center of the camp, where Hegen, Roud, and Shaman were sitting on one of the logs at the fire. Each had a woman seated next to them. I walked up in plain sight, unhurriedly, making sure that I wouldn't surprise them if they weren't paying attention. Hegen stood to greet me.

"It is good that you are moving well, Din," Hegen said. "I must say that we did not expect you to survive your injuries."

"That you did is a sign of favor from the Ancestors," added Shaman.

"May I remain so favored," I responded with feeling. Several of the others echoed my sentiments.

"This is my mate, Sheir," Hegen said, introducing the woman next to him. "She is in charge of the women of the camp."

Unsure of how the relationship between the men and women of the camp worked, I decided to remain respectful but not overtly so. I nodded at her with a warm smile, to acknowledge her and show her I was friendly. The other women weren't introduced, so I didn't openly acknowledge them.

"Do you have a mate?" Shaman asked.

I heard Enyi's sharp intake of breath, which let me know that she was interested in me.

"I did have one," I said hesitantly, unsure of how much to say. "I am alone now, though."

I saw both Hegen and Sheir's smiles increase dramatically at this. I had an idea of what was happening, but I decided to let them lead up to it. I didn't know anything about their customs, if I was right in my guesses, or how to go about it if I was.

"Come, sit down," Hegen said. "The women will get food for us."

As I was sitting down, the four women went to the other side of the campfire, where many women were working on cooking. The smells drifting my way were making my mouth water. I hadn't realized how hungry I was, until then. Of course, I didn't even know how many times I had been fed the last few days.

"I must thank you again for your generosity," I said.

"We have plenty," Hegen said dismissively, but experience told me he was leading into something. "Our hunters have done well, lately. They have brought much bounty to us. Of course, much of the reason for that is that our spears are better than those of the other tribes."

I had to stifle a laugh at the clumsy lead-in to the bad sales pitch.

"You mentioned trade," he continued. "If you want to trade, maybe we will trade you some of our spears. You will make more kills hunting with one of our spears."

He looked at me to see how interested I was.

"I appreciate your concern," I stated, "but I do not use spears to hunt. My tribe knows the secret to a weapon that can throw a small spear very far."

My explanation was vague enough to legitimately describe my guns, but if pressed I could show them a bow. I intended to share the technology with them eventually, anyway.

"You can hunt with these small spears?" Hegen asked, exchanging a sharp look with Roud. I pretended I didn't notice the look or the interest.

"Yes," I said. "I can bring in much more meat than I could ever use. That is why I would like to trade with your people."

"How far can you throw these small spears?" Roud asked.

I couldn't help but notice that he was suddenly much less hostile, now.

"It takes strength to use them well. A good hunter would be able to throw a spear to that tree," I said, pointing at a tree sixty or seventy yards distant.

As they exchanged an even deeper look, the women came back with crude plates filled with food. Sheir sat down after handing a plate to Hegen. The rest of the women left after handing plates to the men. Enyi handed mine to me, which I accepted gratefully. My hunger went berserk as I took in the wonderful smell. I didn't even hesitate before I dug in.

These people had obviously discovered the art of using spices, as the meat was seasoned well. I still couldn't identify what type of meat it was, but it was relatively fatty, juicy, and filled with flavor.

I didn't recognize the vegetables either. One of them seemed to be a sort of carrot offshoot, but sweeter and with a thick outer layer. The others were some form of berry that was a sickly yellow color and sharply sour. To my immense surprise, they were both very good, especially complementing the meat. Of course, I don't think anything could have tasted bad to me at the moment, no matter how horrible it was.

It wasn't until I had finished eating that I saw the others watching me. Fortunately, they all seemed amused, instead of offended. I was embarrassed for a moment, but then the moment caught up with me, and I started laughing. I am sure that we got many puzzled looks as the others joined in, and we were all laughing at my expense.

"I am sorry," I finally said, after the laughter died down again. "I was so hungry that you could have thrown me a slab of raw meat, and I would have devoured it."

"Would you like more?" Hegen asked. I shook my head.

"No," I answered. "Once I get back to my cave, I will take a few days to finish recovering."

"You live in this cave alone?" Hegen asked.

"I live without any companions, for now," I answered carefully.

No matter what I owed these people, I wasn't going to give them the information they needed to ambush me until I trusted them a lot more than I did now. Nonetheless, I would have been surprised if they were actually contemplating betraying me, so I made a point to be discreet about my caution.

I looked around at some of the others in the camp while I was waiting for my group to finish eating their meal. There didn't seem to be much talking while they were eating. The campfire area was mainly filled with women who were working on the food preparation. A few could be seen leaving the area with plates, presumably to give them to men who were elsewhere in the camp.

The activity was interesting to see, because unlike so many situations I had seen before, everyone that wasn't eating was working on some task. I was surprised at that high level of work ethic.

As I looked around, my eyes couldn't help but pause upon Enyi, the only person here I had had any real contact with, as she talked with another woman while working on the food. The other woman was a blonde girl, about the same age and thin build. Something about the interaction kept my eye there for a moment, though I couldn't figure out what it was. Finally, I forced my vision to move away, but not before Hegen had seen where I was looking.

"You are lonely," he stated, as fact.

"Yes," I said reluctantly. I didn't want to give away too much, but it was too obvious a lie to say otherwise.

"Maybe you would like to trade for a mate," he said.

I wasn't caught completely off-guard by this, fortunately. Many pre-technology societies on genesis worlds considered girls, and sometimes boys, to be trading fodder. I hadn't known whether this society did that or not, but I wasn't very surprised.

That said, though, women were considered valuable commodities in these types of communities. They generally weren't available for trade to strangers, so that told me that I was gaining their trust quickly, or they had some idea of how valuable the ideas I carried in my head were. I finally decided on the latter; Hegen was smart enough to take new ideas seriously.

"I might be interested," I said, in a carefully neutral voice. We were watching each other very closely now. "I do not know your customs, though. I do not know how to go about such a trade."

"The woman must agree to become your mate, first of all," Hegen said.

"I understand," I said. "If a woman didn't want to be my mate, trying to force her would be nothing but foolishness."

I received a look of surprise, then appreciation from Sheir.

"You are wiser than many of our men," Shaman said.

"I have had experience with mates in the past," I said. "I have learned many important lessons that I will never forget."