Authors: Grace Rawson
“Are you well?” he asks as he takes the majority of her bags.
“I’m great. How about you?”
“Better now that I have seen your face.”
Jamie’s face grows red hot as she blushes. She hides her blushing face by turning and pointing at the wall. “I was wondering if your people built the wall or if my people did.”
“Your people forced my people to build it from whatever they could find in a hurry. I helped. It was brutal, backbreaking work.”
“I’m sorry Bol.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for Jamie. You did not do these things. Your people did.” He perks up. “Were you able to get your equipment that you left behind?”
“I was. Let’s get back to your home and I will show it to you.”
“Sounds good. Follow me.”
Neither mentions the pills for the fear that the government might have some sort of listening probes or bugs planted around the camp. They know that Bol’s home is safe because he is built a device that allows him to detect bugs and probes at a short distance.
Bol shuts the door behind Jamie and sits down her bags. He disappears into the small back room where he keeps his equipment and returns with a small handheld device that looks a little bit like a television remote. On top of the device are a green light and a red light. As he sweeps it around the room, he explains to her that the red light will only come on if there is a probe, bug, or a hidden camera. The green light stays on the whole time and he nods, satisfied.
“Here.” Jamie digs into her purse and pulls out a box holding six bottles of antibiotics and tosses them to Bol. The box is a tampon box. As he catches it he looks at her with confusion.
“I do not understand.”
“Open it.”
Bol opens the box and a smile splits his face. “You got this many. By the Creator! You risked much to bring this to us.”
He drops the bottles of pills on the table and rushes toward her. She isn’t sure what is about to happen until he wraps her in a hug and lifts her clean off the floor. A giggle of delight escapes her as he spins her around a couple of time. He sits her down and puts a hand on each side of her face. She looks into his eyes and smiles.
“You would have done the same thing for me.”
Bol nods his head down until their foreheads are touching. Jamie gets the feeling that this posture is one of gratitude in Astaran culture and makes a mental note to ask him what it means later on. He straightens up and lets go of her face.
“You are correct. I would have done the same thing for you if asked to do so.”
“I’m not going to lie. I’m still kind of tired and my head hurts a little. I’m sure that you have a lot that you need to do tonight, so if you don’t mind I think I will lie down on the couch and let you get to work.”
“I think that is a good idea, but take the bed. I have the feeling that I will not be getting much sleep this night.”
Jamie stretches out on the bed as Bol disappears into his secret room with his box of pills held to his chest in a protective grip like they were the most important thing in the world.
To him and his people right now they probably are the most important things in the world,
she thinks.
Those pills mean the difference between life and death for a lot of Astara. Maybe even the whole camp in the long run.
*****
Throughout the night Jamie wakes up a couple of times. Each time she wakes she can hear Bol working in his secret room. The sound of small motors and the hum of computers fills the house. Once she gets up and goes to the bathroom. The trip brings her excruciatingly close to the door to the secret room. Every reporter instinct in her body tells her to go into the room, but she resists and returns to bed, her curiosity unsated.
The next morning she wakes to the sound of Bol humming some unknown tune in the kitchen as he cooks a meal over the stove. She sits up on the edge of the bed and watches him for a moment with a smile on her face. The excitement in his actions and voice is infectious and she finds herself in a good mood.
“Did it work?” She asks as she gets out of bed and walks into the kitchen.
“It is a little early to tell, but I believe that it is going to. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I was able to break down the drugs with ease and right now my machines are synthesizing the new product for my people.”
“Good.”
“Indeed it is.” He motions for her to sit at the table. “I have some breakfast ready. I thought that maybe we could eat a bite and then I could show you around the camp a little for your report.”
“That sounds great, but what about your medicine?”
“It will not be ready for many hours yet, so until then I have free time. If you are up for walking that is.”
“I can manage.”
An hour later Jamie finds herself walking around the square that she was able to see from the bathroom window. As she stops at various stands Bol explains to her what the different fruits and vegetables are. Some she knows such as carrots, tomatoes, apples, and other Earth foods, but others she has never seen before.
“We were able to save some of the seeds of the plants from our home world.” Bol explains as Jamie picks up a lavender-colored fruit about the same size of a softball. “Since out two worlds were much the same in atmospheric makeup and soil composition our plants grow well here.”
“What is this one called?” She holds the fruit up for Bol to inspect.
“That is a
canva
. It is very sweet and juicy fruit.” He digs in his pocket and pulls out a dull, flat coin made from metal. “These are our only form of currency in the camps. We make them ourselves so that we have a way to buy and sell things. Here.” He flips the coin to the vendor. The man catches it out of the air and makes it disappear into a box.
As they walk away from the stall Bol pulls out a folding knife and takes the fruit from Jamie. With the knife he punches a hole in the top side of the fruit. Handing the fruit back to her, he indicates that she should drink the liquid inside. Jamie tips up the fruit and puts her mouth over the hole. A thick syrupy liquid pours into her mouth. Sweetness mixed with a slight sourness explodes in her mouth.
“That’s delicious.” She offers the fruit to Bol. He takes it and drinks the last of the liquid. “I’ve never had fruit so good. I don’t know why the government hasn’t started planting these all around the world.”
“I’m sure they have their reasons.”
“Maybe so, but then again maybe I can bridge the gap between our two peoples.”
“That is something that will be easier said than done Jamie. I am afraid that the bridge may take many years to build. A longer time than either one of us has left on this Earth. But maybe our children will see it happen.” Bol’s face grows red and he turns quickly away. “I didn’t mean ‘our’ children as in you and I having babies. I simply meant that...”
Jamie lays a hand on his arm and grins. “I know what you meant Bol. I took no offense. Now, what else new do you have waiting for me at this next stall?”
For the next several hours Bol shows her various fruits and vegetables and even some goods that his people make that would be helpful to the outside world. She listens with care and takes pictures every chance she gets of the people and their wares, but she finds that her heart isn’t in the reporting. She is having such a good time just being with Bol that she is having a hard time focusing on the task at hand. A few times she completely forgets to take pictures and has to go back and snap some quick photographs.
“Would you like to see the Elders’ Square?”
“Of course. Is that where the Elders live?”
“Yes, but it is also where we hold our camp meetings. There we elect new Elders and make decisions about issues that arise in the community.”
“Will it be okay for you to bring an outsider to such an important place?”
“Of course. Well, not just any outsider, but the Elders know what you have done for us and that gives you a sort of exemption from the normal rules we place on the outsiders.”
“Is that why people have been so nice to me today?” Jamie recalls that so far no one has made the slightest remark about her being an outsider.
“It might be, but who can really say?” Bol smiles and turns down an alley.
At the end of the alley stands Grum and a few of his buddies that helped him attack Jamie on her first day in the camp. Grum flashes a smile that is all teeth, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. Jamie reaches into her purse and takes a grip on her pistol, but Bol pushes her back and steps forward.
“What is the meaning of this, Grum?”
“We just wanted to greet you and thank the outsider for what she has done for our people.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Grum looks around his crew. “Isn’t that right boys?”
Each Astara in the group nods his head and grins.
Bol reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out his folding knife, the same one that he used to cut the fruit earlier in the day, and opens it. The Astara start forward, but before they can take two steps Jamie draws the handgun and cocks the hammer as she levels it at Grum’s chest. His eyes widen when he sees the gun and he holds up a hand to stop his crew.
“I see that you know what this is.” She waggles the pistol in her hand. “Last time you caught me off guard, but this time I’m ready and if any of you take another step toward us I’ll blow a hole in you.”
“Try it and the Astara I have behind you will kill you both.”
Jamie starts to turn around, but Bol grabs her by the shoulder. “Don’t listen to him. He’s bluffing. If he can get you to turn around, he will get to you before you can bring the gun back around to him.”
“He’s forty feet away. There is no way he could cover that distance in a second.”
“An Astara warrior can. We are trained in higher gravity than Earth’s, so here we can move with speeds that you wouldn’t believe.”
Grum sees his chance to strike when Jamie lowers her weapon just a fraction of an inch and glances at Bol. With the speed of a striking snake, he darts forward with his hand poised to knock the gun from Jamie’s grasp. She sees him coming and tries to bring the gun up again, but she can tell that she is not fast enough. Grum’s hand chops down at her wrist and she prepares for the pain.
Bol’s hands flash forward and he grabs Grum by the wrists. Stepping forward, he puts his hip into Grum. With a spin he flings Grum through the air. He lands in a cloud of dust in front of his crew with a grunt as the air escapes his lungs. Bol widens his feet to shoulder width and raises his hands in a fighting stance.
“Which one of you is next?” he asks the crew.
The Astara exchange glances for a moment. As they think over whether to rush Bol or not, Jamie raises her pistol and fires a shot in the ground at the feet of the thugs. Startled, they grab up Grum and make a break for it into a nearby alley. Bol takes Jamie by the shoulders and looks her over.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just a little shaken up, but I’ll be fine. What the hell was that about?”
“I am afraid that Grum and the group of rebels he represents does not like to see Astara conversing with the outsiders... I mean humans... He and his co-conspirators see it as a blatant act of disloyalty to our people.”
“I’m sorry to have gotten you into this.”
“Don’t be. Grum and I have been on different sides of the line for years. This has been a long time coming. Now, shall we head back to the house? I think that we’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
“I agree.”
“Besides, I want to check on the stuff and see if it is ready or not.”
Jamie nods and falls in beside Bol as they walk back to his house. The sun dips below the camp wall as they walk, covering everything in shadow. Most of the Astara have gone home for the day, so Jamie and Bol mostly have the road to themselves as they walk. Jamie can’t believe how peaceful it is. She casts a quick glance over at Bol, who is lost in his own thoughts, and smiles. She also can’t believe how good it feels just to be walking beside him. She has to resist the urge to reach up and run her fingers through his black hair just to see how it feels.
Is it soft or coarse,
she wonders.
Bol climbs the stairs ahead of her two at a time with his long legs and Jamie finds herself hard-pressed to keep up with him as they climb the three levels to his home. Inside, he uses his bug detector to scan for any new electronic spying devices. Finding none, he tells her to make herself comfortable while he checks on the medicine to see how far along it has come.