Pyramids,” she says. “They’re ancient constructions—one of the first projects the Loric spearheaded here on Earth ages ago when we were still trying to assess the capabilities of the life-forms here. This is it. The Chimærae led us in the right direction.”
And so we soldier on with renewed vigor.
A few hours later, we begin to pass small buildings and finally hit roads. The Chimærae shrink downto smaller sizes. Some scurry through the gutters as lizards. Others perch on rooftops above us as birds. I swear I see a small rodent crawl into one of Crayton’s pockets.
We stand out, with our bags and sallow expressions. A few men congregated in front of what looks like a small market ask us questions in a language I don’t recognize. But Zophie does. It must be one of the ones she studied on her own. She converses with them for a few minutes, finally laughing a little.
“What is it?” Crayton asks in Loric.
I shoot him a look. “That’s not our language anymore,” I say in French.
Zophie smirks. “They say we look as if we just walked across the desert. They say that would be a long journey indeed.”
“Ask them where we can find a place to stay.”
She goes back to talking. The words come rapidly, and it sounds as if things are getting heated.
“We’re in Giza,” she says. “I told them we need to find a place to sleep, but they’re trying to sell us a tour of some local landmarks. They think we’re visiting from another place on Earth.”
I take a few steps forward, scowling. I have several inches on these men, and when my boots plant in front of them, I can feel their apprehension. I reach into my pocket and remove a small, glittering ring from Raylan’sstash, holding it out to them in my palm.
“Tell them it’s theirs if they can get us to comfortable beds,” I say.
Zophie speaks. The men grin.
CHAPTER TEN
WE BARTER. WE SHOWER. WE SLEEP FOR WHAT seems like a very long time.
We try to adapt.
We check into three rooms at what I understand to be a nice temporary dwelling called a hotel using names Zophie assigns us. We split the Chimærae among us, letting them sleep at our feet in the oversize beds. We try to cobble together some kind of semblance of normalcy. After being stuck in a metal tube for a year and a half, the ability to wander around a city for an hour—just moving my legs and feeling the wind on my face—seems like a blessing.
I sell much of Raylan’s stuff to pawnshops around town once I discover what a pawnshop is. A few of the nicer things I take to places that specialize in jewels. The shop owners there look at me suspiciously when I say they were heirlooms passed down from my familyin what I’m sure is butchered English. They buy things from me anyway, and we amass a stockpile of the currency used in Giza—though, to be honest, the wads of paper and coins are fairly meaningless to me without context of what it costs to survive on this planet. But Zophie’s the one in charge of the finances, and she says we have plenty of money to live on for now.
The city itself seems safe enough, but I take to carrying one of Raylan’s blasters in my pocket whenever I leave the hotel. I’ve learned too well how everything can change in an instant. Also, Earth doesn’t have the most reassuring history when it comes to violence and war.
I take a portion of the money to buy a laptop, which on this planet is considered state of the art but to me is an archaic machine that I imagine my grandfather might have used. Still, primitive as it is, some of its hardware is based on Loric systems I know well. I disassemble the computer that must weigh more than Ella and reassemble it¸ incorporating components from the two data pads we had on the ship. The result is a decent upgrade.
The communications systems on this planet are just as rudimentary as the computing gear, but they’ll suffice. I get to work harvesting data, scouring the internet for any information on the other ship,
And so we soldier on with renewed vigor.
A few hours later, we begin to pass small buildings and finally hit roads. The Chimærae shrink downto smaller sizes. Some scurry through the gutters as lizards. Others perch on rooftops above us as birds. I swear I see a small rodent crawl into one of Crayton’s pockets.
We stand out, with our bags and sallow expressions. A few men congregated in front of what looks like a small market ask us questions in a language I don’t recognize. But Zophie does. It must be one of the ones she studied on her own. She converses with them for a few minutes, finally laughing a little.
“What is it?” Crayton asks in Loric.
I shoot him a look. “That’s not our language anymore,” I say in French.
Zophie smirks. “They say we look as if we just walked across the desert. They say that would be a long journey indeed.”
“Ask them where we can find a place to stay.”
She goes back to talking. The words come rapidly, and it sounds as if things are getting heated.
“We’re in Giza,” she says. “I told them we need to find a place to sleep, but they’re trying to sell us a tour of some local landmarks. They think we’re visiting from another place on Earth.”
I take a few steps forward, scowling. I have several inches on these men, and when my boots plant in front of them, I can feel their apprehension. I reach into my pocket and remove a small, glittering ring from Raylan’sstash, holding it out to them in my palm.
“Tell them it’s theirs if they can get us to comfortable beds,” I say.
Zophie speaks. The men grin.
CHAPTER TEN
WE BARTER. WE SHOWER. WE SLEEP FOR WHAT seems like a very long time.
We try to adapt.
We check into three rooms at what I understand to be a nice temporary dwelling called a hotel using names Zophie assigns us. We split the Chimærae among us, letting them sleep at our feet in the oversize beds. We try to cobble together some kind of semblance of normalcy. After being stuck in a metal tube for a year and a half, the ability to wander around a city for an hour—just moving my legs and feeling the wind on my face—seems like a blessing.
I sell much of Raylan’s stuff to pawnshops around town once I discover what a pawnshop is. A few of the nicer things I take to places that specialize in jewels. The shop owners there look at me suspiciously when I say they were heirlooms passed down from my familyin what I’m sure is butchered English. They buy things from me anyway, and we amass a stockpile of the currency used in Giza—though, to be honest, the wads of paper and coins are fairly meaningless to me without context of what it costs to survive on this planet. But Zophie’s the one in charge of the finances, and she says we have plenty of money to live on for now.
The city itself seems safe enough, but I take to carrying one of Raylan’s blasters in my pocket whenever I leave the hotel. I’ve learned too well how everything can change in an instant. Also, Earth doesn’t have the most reassuring history when it comes to violence and war.
I take a portion of the money to buy a laptop, which on this planet is considered state of the art but to me is an archaic machine that I imagine my grandfather might have used. Still, primitive as it is, some of its hardware is based on Loric systems I know well. I disassemble the computer that must weigh more than Ella and reassemble it¸ incorporating components from the two data pads we had on the ship. The result is a decent upgrade.
The communications systems on this planet are just as rudimentary as the computing gear, but they’ll suffice. I get to work harvesting data, scouring the internet for any information on the other ship,
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