STF

Vespa V - A Need to get Away

Posted June 1, 2020, 10:51 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Alindor (Chief Engineer) (Steven Sigle)

Posted by Ensign Kalani Kāne (Science Officer) in Vespa V - A Need to get Away

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Alindor (Chief Engineer) in Vespa V - A Need to get Away

Posted by Ensign Kalani Kāne (Science Officer) in Vespa V - A Need to get Away
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
SNIP

Kalani looked up as the small child-sized creature chattered and pointed up.

“I am fairly certain the ability to create nets indicates sentience… or at the very least advanced intelligence… very seldom to species learn to make tools like this that don’t become sentient at some point…” Jarred said as he began to inspect the rope carefully.

“So are we discussing this because it is turning into a First Contact thing ooooooooorrrrr are you expecting us to climb up this thing,” Kalani looked at Jarred skeptically.

“Seems… sturdy, I mean it carries their weight… I don’t think you and I combined even weigh as much as one of them… think of it as rock climbing, you like rock climbing right?” he asked her as he turned back to see what she was feeling in this moment of choice to climb giant ropes up a tree.

Alindor, CE

“And yet when I suggested this you looked at me like I was crazy,” she crossed her arms and look at him.

“You said I make a rope out of seaweed and wet twigs! This is twine, a process… you have to work to do this… the Blue Lagoon had beauty and not much else… you try making a rope with soggy timber next time,” he said as he looked at her with a stern glance. These creatures clearly had time, time he hadn’t been giving.

“I think I used the word engineer a way out of the cenote and you acted like it was impossible yet the fuzzball next to me drops it down from the tree and suddenly you are ready to scamper up the thing and embrace your inner Tarzan.” She might sound angry but her face was fighting back the smile trying to form on it. Jarred was such a mystery to her. One moment he was pure Starfleet where he barked out orders and was the consummate officer. An hour later he was on the couch in a pair of sweatpants eating a pizza with his feet propped up on the coffee table watching a game with one of his junior officers. Here Jarred flip-flopped between mountain man and glamper. Well, the glamping was totally for her benefit but it was a weird situation where she felt like there were two Jarred’s here and instead of good Jarred and evil Jarred it was Tarzan Jarred and Glamper Jarred.

Kalani Kane Science

“Woman… twine and rope… rope! That’s it when we get back I am going to make you watch ‘Travels With Rick’ staring Rick Erins. He will show your sorry ass just how to do these processes and why dry timber is a must-have… and just be grateful we had a freshwater lagoon, I didn’t try to get you to drink my pee as he has!” Jarred countered as he began putting some weight on the rope.

Kalani broke out laughing. “I am following the rules of three on that one baby. Three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food,” she ticked them off. “Since we are at the start of our rela…friendship,” she blushed slightly realizing her punch line veered one hundred and eighty degrees from body humor jokes to slipping out her inner thoughts. Putting a hand up to her eyes like a sun visor she averted her gaze to look back up at the tree trunks towards the sky. There wasn’t an ounce of sunlight but it allowed her to slightly obscure her face.

“It’s awfully high,” she commented as the first of the tribe as she would soon refer to their hosts began to scamper up them.

“Come on…” he said as he turned around, and like that he was going to be back in control as he offered her his hand. He knew she still had a head injury, and he wasn’t going to let his love try this without a steady hand guiding her. “It’s just one foot in front of the other… like that old Christmas song you like.... bout Santa and the dancing penguins.”

Alindor, CE

Gripping the rope she stuck one foot in the net and reached up with her hand pulling her body off the ground. “The penguin song is about Peter and Penelope Penguin calling the North Pole from the South Pole. Penguins are not indigenous to the North Pole,” she began to lecture him about the ancient and little known Christmas Carole. “Put one foot in front of the other is that stop anima,” she froze climbing and looked down. Jarred was only about two feet below her climbing up. “Are you staring at my butt,” she asked him playfully.

“Did you not want me to? I mean of all the beauty on this island… that is the best thing. Side note, there is a penguin in that film… he has that penguin with the scarf… he got lost okay… really lost.” Jarred said in a teasing tone as he kept pace behind her as the pair climbed to the top.

As she focused down on his face she began to see more than she liked. Mainly how incredibly high they had gotten and how incredibly far they still had to go. Her complexion faded to a slightly grayer tone as the blood began to rush from her face. Kalani licked her lips and then blew out a calming breath through pursed lips. “You…um…sure this it like…engineeringily....sound?” Kalani doubted there was such a enginerringly but right now she was trying to stop the sensation of vertigo creeping into her body. The minor chit chat Jarred had engaged her in to get her moving evaporated from her mind like acetone poured into a beaker to dry up bits of water. A nervous laugh escaped her lips as her hands instinctively gripped the twine more securely. “I shouldn’t have looked down,” she admitted through bits of nervous laughter. “How hhhhh…hhhh…high,” she couldn’t control the laughing as she talked betraying how calm she wasn’t. “Phew....fifty feet?” Right now she was not in danger of falling but she was also frozen to her twine like a marble statue with only her lips moving as her eyes focused on the ground below and nothing else.

Kalani Kane

“Hey, baby just focus on my voice… these creatures climb up and down these ropes all the time. It’s not gonna break easily I suspect… you can do this love....” Jarred said as he shifted as he climbed to the left so he could get up next to her. There was enough room for them on either side, and he knew his hand on her would help calm her down.

“Just breath, I’m right here love… you don’t have anything to fear baby,” he said softly as he tried to coax her from her spot.

Alindor, CE

“Only your engineering assessment. Suspect? Suspect,” she looked at him now that he was next to her instead of below her. “Is that your standard way to report to the captain that the warp core is broken beyond belief and that we are all going to die. Sir,” she imitated the deeper tone of a man when she spoke trying to be a bit playful even though she could feel her temperature rising. “I suspect the warp core is gonna make it but whhhhheeeeelll,” she released her grip slightly to give a slight hand wiggle indicating that she was not sure of the assessment. Now that her hand was released she moved it up not at far as she could have but there was forward motion. “Where exactly did you graduate in your class?” The banter was helping her focus on him and not the possible imminent death from a knot unraveling.

“Baby 90% of my job is eyeballing it and going ‘Yep that’ll hold’ and then running a diagnostic to see if I was right. Engineering isn’t an exact science… science is science… engineering is like some kind of black magic with rules that change every other week.” Jarred said as he took a deep breath as he looked over at her. He could tell she wasn’t going to do well here. She wasn’t the height adventure type, she liked firm feet planted. He was often surprised she even wanted to be on space ships. Yes, they had artificial gravity, but all that was under the bulkheads was black and darkness.

Immediately she stopped climbing and stared at him dumbfounded. “Black magic,” she said with a smile on her face. “So your warp cord is a crystal ball. Do you shake it to find out what is wrong with it,” she joked rolling her eyes before climbing higher up the ladder.

The more they talked the higher they climbed. As long as Jarred continued to ramble about things she was both interested in and topics she care less about, it allowed her to put one foot in front of the other just like the song. “So babe, how um....further you think we got. I am not sure looking up or daaaahhh owwwwn,” she squealed as a small juvenile form scampered up next to her like they were running on the ground. The rope ladder swung slightly like a towel on a clothesline during a gentle summer breeze. One hundred feet off the jungle floor however, the motion felt like a nine-point earthquake.

“Hey baby, don’t look up okay? Listen to my voice keep focusing on me.” Jarred said as he took his hand and placed it against her lower back as he tried to give her a sense of support. This was made tricky by him trying to keep all his weight on his left arm but he needed to keep her focused or else there was never going to be a second away mission date.

“Uooo kay mean oh ray,” he said to Jarred hooking his feet into the hemp squares and leaning back like he was on a metal monkey bars three inches above Jarred’s head. Digging in his pocket he pulled out a large red fruit of some sort and handed it towards the engineering chief.

“Thank you…” Jarred said as he moved his hand off Kalani’s back as he took it as he looked over at Kalani with a shrug. “Hungry?” he said with a small smirk as he put his arm back around her waist again.

“Jarred don’t eat and climb,” she chastised him. “Its the same rule as don’t eat and swim ‘cause you can die doing both.”

“Bah diggah me tah,” a second juvenile of the species scampered up between Jarred and Kalani wiggling the rope even more. She smiled at Jarred and blinked her eyes several times pointing up with her hand.

The squeeze was tight as they shot between them like some tunnel as he looked up shaking his head at the sight. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at some of this.

“Ah honey can you tell our new friends we are fiiieeennnnn,” she shook her head as three more of them scampered up around the climbing couple.

Kalani.

“I think they want to help us get up faster… maybe if you put some pep in your ass…” Jarred said as he slapped her ass with his fisted palm still holding the fruit firmly. “Come on love you can make it… just a few extra feet baby,” he said softly as he got to the top as he pulled himself up at the landing as he looked down at her. “Grab my hand he said as he took a bite of the fruit as he laid it down before leaning over the side for her to grab his arm so he could pull her the rest of the way up.”

Alindor, CE

Kalani reached up grabbing his hand feeling a waved of adrenaline course through her body. It was like an electric shock. It made her feel alive. Kalani’s life was literally in his hands as she let go of the rope. Using her feet she stepped up the last few inches as Jarred pulled her upper body towards the platform. As soon as enough of her body was on the platform, she felt Jarred let go and stand up. A few seconds later she stood up next to him and let out a deep breath. The view from here was spectacular. They had transported down so they missed the varying levels of tree canopy to which she was looking at now. The housing platform was only half way up the tree but taller than the other trees around it. “God it looks like the surface is liquid,” she commented watching the rippling blue and purple leaves from the shorter trees ripple in the wind. This made no sense to her as a botanist. All the plants on the surface were the typical shades of green indicating they used chlorophyll as a food source yet the tops of the tree leaves here had to be using some other photosynthetic reaction to create the colors she was seeing. “Grab my pants,” she said taking a firm stance bending her knees slightly.

“Why on Earth am I grabbing your pants?” Jarred asked her with a cocked eye as he tried to gauge just what she thought she was doing.

“I am gonna reach out and grab one of those leaves,” she pointed to a nearby branch of a tree growing perpendicular to the one where the creature’s habitat was placed in. “I just don’t want to risk getting vertigo if I look down and falling off,” she explained. “I know I can reach it if I stretch. I need to take a sample back to the ship to study.”

“And why on Earth do we need to study this? We need to get out of her alive first before we worry about studying this.” Jarred countered as he rolled his eyes. He wasn’t as big into science as she was, and this certainly felt like a waste but he would do it for her if she really wanted.

“Ma links puh sa fah,” one of the small creatures said in a curious tone looking at Jarred and then stepping so close to the edge a breeze could knock it off. The creature showed no fear of the edge and moved it’s gaze to what Kalani was looking at. It was then it made a shaking motion with his head. “Boo tana son,” it clapped its hands in a smacking sound before closing his eyes and sticking out his tongue.

“Do you think he is worried we are going to die from falling or that the leaves are poisonous,” she put her hands on her hips trying to debate when they creature was telling them.

“You are the expert… you tell me. I’m just trying to figure out our position to get us out of here.” Jarred said as he began looking up to see the sun as he tried to gauge just where their position might be. He knew they landed northeast in their campsite, so finding out which direction that was could help greatly getting back there.

“Jah hee pah,” a voice yelled out motioning them to follow the path of wooden bridges that interlaced the branches on the tree. The small creature began tugging at Jarred’s hand encouraging him to follow as he walked towards the adult waving at him.

“Did it sound a lot like that one just said jump,” Kalani commented before walking in the indicated direction.

Kalani Kane science

“That or they are trying to say my name… or maybe they just had a bowel movement… I am not an anthropologist… so what is your guess?” Jarred asked as he began following the vines and steps watching carefully as he took each one.

Alindor, CE

As if they understood Kalani several of the humanoids ran over to Jared taking his hands and pulling him towards a series of hollowed-out structures in the trees accessorized by vines, twigs, and mud. As Jarred and Kalani reached the area they humanoids escorted them to Kalani looked around. The structures had to be the dwellings of the humanoids. As Kalani looked at the structures they appeared to her like a three-story apartment building in any city along an avenue. Small torches adorned the entry to each hollowed-out entrance that the creatures slowly began lighting as the sunlight dimmed. Long vines hung down from holes in the trunks where the humanoids crawled up and down to reach the common area she and Jarred appeared to be standing in. The base of the trees held images that reminded her instantly of the Lascaux cave paintings. They were crude but showed simple things like animals, plants and rudimentary images of their species. The production of art and the use of some sort of language showed they were primitive but an evolving species.

“I think this answers our questions to if they are sentient, animals can use tools… but not this…” Jarred said with a sense of wonder as he gazed at the structures. This wasn’t very advanced by modern standards of course, but it had a simple primitive elegance to it. It seemed to have a form and function, these creatures he felt understood them more than they did. It was a good thing, seeing as if Kalani and Jarred had been going for their linguistic badges, or first contact badges, they might have failed already.

In the center of what appeared to be the common area, a large fire burned with chunks of meat roasting above them. Several of the creatures appeared to be tending it, with their escorts dragging them closer. As Jarred and Kalani were pulled down to the ground indicating for them to sit there, her eyes took in one particular tree section of the tree paintings. The longer she looked at it the more small wrinkles were appearing on her forehead between her eyes.

The only thing that broke her concentration was a large leaf with some sort of charred meat in the center that one of the primitive beings handed her. “Honey,” she said looking at the image and not Jarred. “Is that our…replicator,” she asked taking a bite of the food provided without actually looking at it. “I mean it could be them doing math and not us…right?”

“Maybe… I don’t know they took everything.” Jarred said as he began to look closer at the image. Part of him was feeling like he needed to study this more, traditional sciences might not be his forte’ but this did seem to bear some examination. Though as he looked at the images he couldn’t help but get a feeling he had seen these before.

When Jarred looked at the wall he could see a series of crude images. The first was a large circle that had a triangle next to it. Long squiggly lines ran vertically into the circle with two stick-like figures pressed together tightly were at the edge of the circle under the squiggly lines. A bit to the right of the circle was a triangle shape with several of the primitive beings hiding behind it as if they were looking at the stick figures in the circle. The next picture was a set of three like an old fashioned comic strip from a newspaper. It showed a primitive being that appeared to be poking at a large rectangle with a stick. Immediately after this, was the rectangle again but with fire like streaks emanating from the rectangle. The last picture in the series as half a rectangle with several of the primitive beings in a position that made it seem like they were sleeping around it. As Kalani chewed another bite of food she watched as two groups of their primitive hosts seemed to be adding more murals. One group was drawing what appeared to be two stick figures climbing up one of their trees. The other group was drawing the stick figures on what appeared to be a large platform. As the last two of the four murals were still a work in progress, neither Kalani nor Jarred would know what the final image was but they could make some guesses.

Kalani Kane Science

“Wait… they have been… have they?” Jarred asked as he looked over at Kalani with a wide-eyed expression. “No… we… we had sensors at the time didn’t we?” he asked her with a look of horror as he began piecing it all together.

Alindor, CE

“Sensors,” she punched Jarred in the arm. “They were at the waterfall. I would prefer a grass skirt and coconuts on that stick figure,” she looked at him. Turning her attention to the mural she cocked her head to the side and tried to figure out what the last image could be. There wasn’t much to go on and since they hadn’t done anything but sit down for dinner, Kalani doubted it would be a mural about a buffet. As the light dimmed due to the sun setting, more and more torches were lit creating shadows reminiscent of a campfire. Leaning her head on Jarred’s shoulder she watched as the village went about their nightly routine including her and him as if they were part of the village. From time to time someone would venture up close enough to deposit something near them. Only one or two actually approached them close enough to hand them something. When they did, the response was always the same. The onlookers would hoot and growl sounds that to Kalani felt like encouragement during each of these interactions.

Kalani Kane Science

“Yes sensors, perimeter sensors silly. You know those pylons we set up all around the camp? You know to protect us if wildlife or others show up. Why didn’t they go off? You did turn it on after I placed them didn’t you? ” he said as he looked over at her with a discerning look.

She opened her mouth to protest how Jarred was more worried about a piece of technology than her chastity until she zoned in on one phrase: to protect us. Her throat made a slight clicking sound as if her tongue physically stopped the next work coming out of her mouth. While she wasn’t an anthropologist, Kalani knew they were having their first dating conversation of form over function. As a general rule, men relied heavily on function in life which was why they never gave a rat’s butt about the drapes you just hung in the living area. If the object served the purpose that was intended men were fine with the choice. Women, however, defaulted to the category of form. Was the object visually or emotionally pleasing? This battle often was the warning shot in a full-scale war when the drapes in question did not serve the dual purpose of what the woman wanted both in form and function. While the current conversation between Jarred and Kalani was not drapes, it was all about form over function.

Kalani opened her mouth as several responses were tested out in her mind. I don’t know why they didn’t go off. Okay, this was going to be a lie because she was in the field enough to operate the pylons without a chief engineer at her side. I had no idea if there was going to be a wildlife problem. Again this was not a viable response. They were on an unknown planet, isolated for the weekend, so the security pylons were as necessary as food and water. The only question she could answer was the last one he posed about turning them on. Kalani found it mildly amusing that much like the great curtain debate couples had, Jarred and Kalani were experiencing the second most popular reason a couple went from calm to yellow alert: Were you not listening to me when I asked you to do something and just said ‘uh huh.’

When she had stalled long enough mulling over her answer, Jarred zeroed in on which question of the three he posed to focus with a laser-like precision to get a response.

“Please tell me you didn’t make me slave for two hours placing those, testing them as I set up our camp… only for you to not do the one thing I asked you which was to pick up the PaDD and click… ‘ON’?” Jarred said as he looked over at her sternly, there were other pressing matters but now he wondered if all this could have been prevented if she had just done the one thing he had asked of her.

It was then it slipped out accompanied by the wide-eyed innocent expression of the one at fault. “Ummm hmmm huh,” followed but a rapid distractor which in this case was shoving in another bite of food to buy time to think.

“Cause if you didn’t, you can tell me. I love you… you are my life baby… so… you turned it on, didn’t you?”

“Uh mmmh,” she mumbled replying pointing to her mouth showing she could not talk while eating. Kalani wanted Jarred’s focus off this topic. Why couldn’t he just move on? Inside she fought the urge to squirm knowing exactly what happened with the pylon sensors. Yes, she mentally answered, still in a squeaking form as she chewed slower than a newborn baby just learning to eat. Part of her felt relief answering truthfully but there was always more to the truth than the concrete answer Jarred wanted. There were explanations and countless conversations that intertwined like tracks at a railroad station. This was not a yes or no answer situation. This was going to be a bonding moment in their relationship.

“You didn’t just go to get the coffee maker and collect leaf samples, you turned on the one piece of protective gear we brought didn’t you? I can take many things to love but I don’t want to be lied to.” Jarred asked as he stopped dead as he waited for her answer, he wasn’t going to budge that was for sure as he looked at her with piercing eyes as if they could detect truth and lies.

Alindor, CE

“Wait you think I am lying?” she posed a rhetorical question.

“I think you are one that unless it directly affects you, details don’t really matter so much… not that you are lying but maybe, just maybe it just wasn’t something you deemed important?” Jarred asked her as he wondered how far to tread this needle as it were with her. If he pushed too far he might find his bed awfully cold at nights but they had gotten so much closer that he felt he could inquire a little.

Well you are kinda lying to him right now but spread the blame like peanut butter on a sandwich. Make it so that its sticky everywhere and he can’t help but take some of the responsibility, her inner voice urged her on like a band of sisters ganging up on the unsuspecting boyfriend.

“About the security pylons?” Kalani threw out answer short answer hoping her tone would let Jarred know this road less traveled was bare of vehicles for a reason.

“Yes, the pylons that I spent hours so you could relax, sweating and fighting bugs and snakes to keep us safe… front bugs and snakes…” Jarred said as he crossed his arms waiting for the answer.

Throwing up her hands Kalani was disgusted. Why did he think he could play the ‘I don’t want to be lied to card’ this early in their relationship. It was not like she had been banging her ex or got drunk and became Kalani Kane Exotic Dance Winner at Pedro’s Bar on shore leave. It was a switch: On or off, toggle right or toggle left, press the button down or disengage it which he was using the Hail Mary of all relationship questions on No one did that. Hell if she was not stranded on a desert planet with no way home eating wild roasted meat, Kalani would have defaulted to the classic woman ploy of leaving the room with the fluffy statement, ‘if you don’t trust me maybe we need a bit of time apart.’ If the guy was worth keeping he learned that accusing a woman of doing something on the accident was not a bridge to cross and things got back on track and yet here he was, slowly eating and waiting for an answer.

“Okay I am waiting… what did you do woman!?” Jarred asked, tired of the hemming and hawing as she seemed to be stalling for a time from her execution. “It’s a simple yes or no.”

“Fine. Okay no,” she crossed her arms over her chest in the classic woman defiant pose that said I am not at fault and this is why. “I hated the small snap pop of insects bopping into it like a bug zapper hanging off the eaves of a redneck’s mobile home deep in rural West Virginia. It was ruining the mood. Zip. Zing. Pop. Snap....Jarred it was killing the mood. I didn’t think it would matter. I thought I would have a bit o’,” she wagged her head back and forth, “at the waterfall. We would come back. You would make dinner. Bring back coffee, see the indicator light as red, and snap it on before bed.” having sufficiently shared the blame buck, Kalani eyed him as if daring him to question her answer.

Kalani Kane Science

“So it’s my fault now that you didn’t do the very thing I asked? Why would I think to check if you did it when you told me you did? You know I am engineering I could have tweaked the sound dampener and made it less obvious but nooooo… you had to go on and get us trapped in the land that time forgot didn’t you?” Jarred said as he gestured around at the planet. It was clear this was all rubbing him the wrong way. He didn’t want to be here anymore, he needed out and he needed to get them both to safety.

“Well I am sorry if we didn’t do this on someplace cushy like a Ritz Carlton,” she barked out crossing her arms over her chest in the classic I’m angry and you are wrong. “Maybe it was too early for a date like this,” she huffed out instantly regretting her words. Until they had been visited by the indigenous life the trip had been perfect. Now she had probably sunk what could have been the best how I met your grandfather ever story. Her jaw held all the tension of the emotions coursing through her body. Part of her was sad Jarred seemed to hate all the outdoorsiness of the date. Part of her was sad he wasn’t having a good time. Part of her was upset at being angry at him for something that wasn’t his fault. Her arms softened along with her face as Kalani tired to think of a way to salvage the situation and not have Jarred turn around in a corridor when he saw her coming back on the Saracen.

“Look… I shouldn’t have snapped… I know you wanted this all perfect, so did I love.” Jarred said as he took a deep breath as he looked around. “Though you must be loving it, so much to learn… not enough tech for my liking here…” he said as he got up as he looked around at the markings a bit closer wondering just what all this place had in store.

Alindor, CE

Coming up behind Jarred, Kalani brushed her hands on the back of her pants to clean them off. Her mother would have disapproved but the lack of utensils and napkins left her no other choice. Looking at the image of what seemed to be a large clothes line took her mind of the uneasiness she was feeling standing next to Jarred. “Okay so I get those,” she pointed at the murals with enough details to describe thier adventure so far through the eyes of the sentient creatures, “but why are they doing laundry?”

“Maybe this is laundry day and they all normally are dressed head to toe?” he poised as he looked over at her with an uncertain smile. It wasn’t completely impossible he thought, but it certainly seemed unlikely. “Or maybe they… dry meats or veggies on it?” he countered wondering if they had any cooking techniques like that.

“Mee kah so wah,” a voice said from behind her pulling at the hand. Kalani looked at the being who again repeated the phrase as he gently tugged her towards one of the huts. He wasn’t acting aggressive but definitely wanted her to follow him “Mee Kah so wah,” he repeated slower and with what could only be a smile on his face.

“Umm Jarred,” she reached back with her other hand searching for his. Kalani had no idea where this being wanted to take her but she knew she did not want to go alone.

“It’s okay June bug…” he said softly as he held onto her tight as he took her hand. “Look it’s just an adventure, we’ll be fine. My dad would love finding me out here, next thing you know they will wanna take us fishing and tell me how I am using my pole wrong for three hours…” he said with a slightly sarcastic tone to his quip has he nodded as he began to take her with him.

“I need to tell you, I don’t regret any of this… not one second. Not as long as you are by my side.” Jarred said as he looked back at her as he leaned close to kiss the top of her forehead.

As the pair was led into a hut, it was not at all what Kalani expected to find. A large cloth-like hammock dominated the center of the room. In a way, it was romantic in a vegan treehugger sort of way. The torches scattered about the room created an ambiance where shadows moved against the walls like a thousand candles. “Mee kah so wah ha,” the creature walked over to the hammock demonstrating how the couple could crawl in. The gesture brought a smile to Kalani’s face. For the first time, she realized how dumb she and Jarred might look to thier hosts.

“I think they want us to sleep here,” she murmured out loud to Jarred. Moving across the room, she nodded. Placing a hand over her heart she said thank you and crawled into the hammock.

“I mean, better than on the floor with bugs crawling up our asses… I’m game.” Jarred said as she began to crawl in he looked around, a sense of marvel and wonder at all the construction. These people may not seem like much but they certainly were inventive.

“Mo passa kah wah hoo,” he looked at Jarred a bit confused. It was clear he did not seem to understand why Jarred was still standing in the middle of the room. “Mee kah so wah ha,” he repeated the phrase and made a gesture towards the hammock with both hands.

“What… do we get in the same?” he asked, as he looked over at Kalani as she swung slightly in the hammock. It seemed more than big enough for the two, in fact, he felt it was meant for two of their species which meant four of theirs.

“Yo condo de soto,” a voice called out behind Jarred from the doorway. As Jarred and Kalani looked at the door they would see what seemed to be a wall of people from the village looking through the door at them.

“Je make de wah ha,” the guide shrugged as if saying I don’t know why they don’t seem to understand. His face bore an almost hurt expression as if he had failed at his task. Looking between Jarred and the people behind him the man waited shifting his weight from side to side as if anxious or nervous not knowing how to get the man where he needed to be.

Lt. Kalani Kane science

“Okay okay… I will get in…” Jarred said as he climbed up in and cozied up next to Kalani. Taking a deep breath he felt a ease go over them. This wasn’t the vacation they planned, but it was their vacation. “When we tell our grandkids this story, maybe we tell them less about us looking like fools trying to learn their ways and just brilliant scientist treading uncharted waters as we had little to no hitch with these people.” Jarred said as he looked over at her with a warm gushing feeling rush through him as he leaned in close as he kissed her deeply in their cocoon-like hammock.

Alindor, CE


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