- Aurora -

The total success of the fishing line I made was good for me. I haven't had too many things work out right on this planet. But Trak'zor's care and pride of this island inspires me to try new things. And this thing now is a little more ambitious.

“Any Bigs there?”

I stand still for a while on the shore, just peering suspiciously into the jungle. The thunder from the waterfall hides any noises of broken branches or trees which is usually the first sign you get that a dino is getting closer.

Trak'zor grunts as he lifts the huge tree trunk and places it across the strait. “The woods are full of Bigs.”

That's true enough. I guess if we can't see any right now, that's the best we can expect.

Trak'zor walks calmly across the 'bridge', and I follow on less steady feet. “We only stay on land much short time.”

“Always wise to not spend too much time in the woods,” he agrees.

Then we're across, and some of the fear of the jungle is back. On the island I never felt the need for a weapon, but now I really miss my bow.

Trak'zor puts his hands on his hips and raises his eyebrows, as if to say well, here we are.

“I want look at trees,” I say, keeping my voice down as always in the jungle. This was the spot where that rekh was standing the other day. “Touch trees, see if wood is loose.”

“Loose?”

I walk over to the nearest tree and knock on it with one knuckle as if it were the door to someone's dorm room. It makes hardly any sound.

“Yes. If loose, maybe will sound more than other trees.”

He gives me that are-you-insane-or-are-you-just-drunk look. I knock on another tree, undeterred. Then another and another. They all sound the same – hardly any noise at all.

Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. The success with the fishing line made me overly enthusiastic, and spending much more time right here in known rekh country may not be the smartest thing.

I knock on two more trees, but they all sound the same.

I look around. In this dense undergrowth, a raptor could be right on me before I know it. “Is maybe not much smart be here. We go home?”

Trak'zor isn't looking at me. He's looking up, scanning the treetops. Then he gives me a sign to stay and marches off into the jungle, and within two seconds I can neither see nor hear him.

I go back to the bridge, ready to scurry across it if anything at all happens. Shit, if that cloud there passes in front of the sun, I'm running.

Then I hear the muted sound of wood being chopped, and a couple of minutes later, Trak'zor comes out of the jungle, dragging the large branch of a tree, leaves and everything.

He dumps it at my feet, and as it hits the rock it gives of a resonant bonggg.

I squat down and knock on the thick end close to where he's chopped it off the tree. It responds with a sound that reminds me of a xylophone. You could probably play a decent tune on this thing.

But that's not what I'm planning.

“Trak'zor please cut here,” I say and show with one finger, then stand well back. He cuts the last foot off the thick end in one powerful chop.

I pick it up, then gasp. “Is much light!”

The piece of wood seems to have hardly any weight to it, like it's made of paper. I toss it into the water.

Then I grin, because it floats so high in the water, only about a tenth of it is submerged. The grain must be extremely loose and consist mostly of air. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I spontaneously embrace Trak'zor's massive chest and look up at him. “Is perfect! Trak'zor much skilled jungle man. There is more of tree? Need much.”

Trak'zor smiles at my enthusiasm, then goes off into the woods again. I hear more chopping sounds, and then he comes out of the jungle again, dragging two huge trees behind him.

“Is this enough?”

I nod vigorously. “Is maybe enough!”

Yeah, I don't want to commit more than that. I have no experience with these things.

I examine the trees and direct Trak'zor to remove the leaves and cut the trunks into logs about fifteen feet long. The trees are thick down by the roots and then spread out into many thinner trunks, so after a couple of hours' work we have a nice heap of logs that aren't too thick.

“Wonderful,” I state and squeeze Trak'zor's wrist, but I have to use both hands to be able to reach around it. “Now bring to island.”

“Aurora walk over, then stay there and come to the shore,” Trak'zor says.

I take the smallest, lightest log into my arms and walk across the bridge, then dump it on the rocks. The wood may be light, but a whole log is still pretty heavy to me.

I go to the edge of the water, hoping that Trak'zor is right about water monsters never breaking the surface. Then he tosses a huge log into the water, pushing it hard at the same time. The log hits the surface with a little splash and then continues over to the gravel beach I'm standing on.

I get the point and pull the log as far up on the beach as I can.

We continue like that until we've brought about half the wood over to the island.

Trak'zor is about to toss me another log when he suddenly freezes and quickly puts the log down. He draws his sword and starts backing up towards the 'bridge', then grabs the end of the thick trunk and dumps it into the water.

“What you doing?!” I yell before I see why and the blood in my veins turns to ice.