- Aurora -

I walk back from the pit, wiping my mouth with a rag. I can't wait for this part of the pregnancy to be over. As I get back to the cave, Sophia comes out.

She's holding her daughter in her arms and gives me a smile. “Jaxia Aurelia.”

I takes me two seconds for it to hit home. Then my hand flies to my mouth and I'm tearing up.

“Oh my god. You named her after me?”

“If it's okay with you. If you hadn't come back, well ...”

I go in close and hug her carefully. I was never a big hugger, but now I have to make up for lost time. “Thank you!” I sniff. “I'm so honored!”

Sophia sniffs, too. “So are we.”

“Stop it, you guys,” Emilia says. “You're making me tear up.”

We sit down by the fire, where a pot of stew is bubbling. Caroline must have been up even earlier than me to get it started.

The sun is about to rise, and I want an early start today.

“We're getting real good at weddings,” Sophia says. “That one yesterday was really great.”

I squeeze her shoulder. “It was. I can't thank you guys enough. I'd never want it any other way. Even Alice came by with salen fruits.”

“She's crazy,” Emilia laughs. “She stays away a lot and wants me to think that she's all independent and all, but she keeps a really close eye on what we do here. I wonder what goes on in her alien mind.”

“She's bright,” I state, heaping some of the steaming stew into my bowl. “You ever tried to teach her to talk?”

“Yep. But I don't think she wants to. Or she just can't. It's fine. It would kind of creep me out. I mean, she's pretty much an alien monkey.”

Heidi comes walking with a fistful of leaves for an experimental not-coffee. “Am not. I just look like one in a certain light.”

“Not you, Heidi,” Emilia chuckles. “We were talking about Alice.”

Heidi pushes her glasses up on her nose. “Yes, I know you were. Sorry, it's very early in the morning. So, it's honeymoon time, Aurora? Going to your island paradise?”

“Yep. If were going to stay on this planet, then I'd recommend we move our whole tribe to Trak'zor's island. It's pretty safe.”

“But much further from Bune,” Heidi points out.

“That's right. But we're not going to stay here on this planet, so this cave will do until we leave for good.”

“You'll come back to the cave to live, right?”

I blow on a spoonful of hot stew. “I will come back. To live here? I don't know. I think Trak'zor wants to be close enough to his tribe that he can go there without much trouble. The island is much closer to the village than this cave is. Good morning, Delyah.”

Delyah comes and sits down. “I'm done thinking about the alien pad and about the wall paintings,” she abruptly announces.

We all perk up our ears. It's rare for her to say much. But when she does, it pays to listen.

“I've placed the pad at the inner wall of the cave and I've heaped furs on top of it. It's not a usual tablet like some kind of alien iPad. It's something else.”

For a minute, the only sound is the ever-present hum from the jungle and metallic clangs from the forge, where the men are busy with their iron.

Sophia clears her voice. “What?”

“I was puzzled from the start,” Delyah admits. “It looked like a broken pad. Some things worked, some didn't. And it was super hard to operate. The only thing that worked every time was the signal it sends that makes Bune light up like a crazy laser show. The map function hasn't worked for months. But it's not broken. I can see some patterns in how it behaves. It works perfectly as intended. It's not meant to help us.”

We exchange glances, but nobody says anything.

“So,” Delyah continues. “The first clue. Any electronic device is logical. It has a logical way of using it. The big tech companies spend billions on creating user interfaces that make sense. Making sense is the same as being logical. And logic is the same everywhere in the universe. There's no such thing as alien logic. It's all the same. Just like math. One plus one always equals two, whether you're human or Plood or caveman or whatever. Logic is like that, except simpler and even more basic. Say, this rock and that rock are not the same rock. They're different rocks. That's logic. That pad is not logical. It does not work by logical principles. Someone has taken great care to make sure that what it does is random. It's fake.”

I glance towards Bune. Already I have a pretty good idea of where this is going.

“It was pretty frustrating,” Delyah says. “I seemed so close, but I couldn't make sense of it. Until I realized that it's not possible to make sense of. It's not supposed to be. This thing is not for us to make use of. It's for someone else to use while we have it.”

I scratch my head. This is starting to go over my head.

“Second clue. Aurora says that Bune didn't try to kill her when she was there. Neither did it try to kill Trak'zor. But it tried to kill us when we went there last. Why not Aurora? Because she didn't have the pad. The spaceship didn't know she was there. It didn't know Trak'zor was there. It knew we were there because we had the pad with us.”

Delyah points back into the cave with her thumb. “Third clue. These cave paintings. Some of the symbols are the same as those I've seen on the pad. But they're painted here in an attempt to understand them. By someone who doesn't. It's a good attempt. It's systematic. The person who painted that was very bright. But he finally also realized that it wasn't possible to make sense of them. They mean nothing.”

We all turn around to peer at the colorful paintings at the wall in the cave.

“Fourth clue. Most important. I used this pad to give me light during Sophia's birth. And it did. But the screen kept changing like it never has before. I wanted the screen to be white. But as soon as I did that, it turned back to another image. A live image of the cave. Of Sophia giving birth. Like when you take video with your phone? The whole screen turns into a preview of the recording. Someone else was using that pad. From a distance. Why at that time? Because Sophia was giving birth. It's the most important thing that's happened in our time here. And someone else wanted the best view they could get. Through the pad.”

“I saw that,” Sophia says. “I could see myself on the pad. It was pretty weird. Never saw it do that before.”

“So,” Delyah says, “I have to conclude that the pad is a spy device. Someone in spying on us. And I think I know where they are.”

Coldness creeps down my back. That makes sense to me. I never felt good around that alien pad.

“Bune,” Heidi states. “That's where.”

Delyah nods. “Has to be.”

I suddenly get it. “And they made sure we're not helped much by the pad. It rarely makes things easier for us. But still it has to be interesting enough for us not to throw it away or ignore it. Someone wants us to bring it wherever we go. Because it just might start working or do something helpful. But then it never does.”

“Exactly,” Delyah confirms. “I sometimes felt as if I was playing some kind of alien Candy Crush on it when I was trying to figure out how it worked. Except it never really went anywhere. Sometimes it did something useful, but mostly not. It was just engaging enough to keep me busy, but I kept going in circles.”

“Could it be some kind of automated system? I mean, inside Bune?” Emilia asks.

“Like a robot or a computer? Oh, it absolutely could. If it is, then it's as sophisticated and intelligent as any one of us. So we can think of it as a who, not as a what. To me, it feels like a living being.”

We're quiet again as we all look towards Bune in the morning sun.

Heidi frowns. “Who would spy on a birth?”

“Not a mentally healthy person,” Emilia says.

“We'll go there,” I state with conviction. “We'll all go. With crossbows. Twenty iron arrows each. Dar'ax and Heidi will tame raptors that will fit inside the corridors. We'll make iron tools to tear that creepy spaceship to shreds until we find the sick fuck hiding inside.”

“Ar'ox and I sometimes ... um ... were intimate with that damn pad on the shelf right beside us,” Emilia says. “And there's a good chance someone was watching it all. We've been giving somebody a camshow. For free.”

“We did too,” Sophia says. “It's not a great feeling.”

Anger flashes in me. “I'll smash that thing into a thousand fucking pieces!”

“I don't get it,” Heidi says. “Ar'ox happened to find that pad in a very remote area where he had never gone before. And then it finds its way to us. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?”

“I can't explain that yet,” Delyah admits.

“Someone,” Emilia thinks out loud, “has been spying on us. Seeing us close to death many times. Seeing us worried about one of us that's missing. Seeing us starve sometimes. Seeing us go through difficult births. Someone who lives in a spaceship so huge and advanced that it doesn't even seem real. Someone who has access to a medical gel so sophisticated it seems like magic. And they haven't done shit to help us.”

Delyah gets to her feet again, staring at Bune. “We'll go there,” she says so flatly it makes the hairs on my arm stand up. She's furious. “All of us. We'll prepare really well. We'll arm ourselves. I wanted to try the smart approach and reason our way to understanding. It didn't work. Now I think the silk gloves have to come off. We'll go for brute force. It's inelegant, but sometimes the only way.”

She turns her back and goes into the cave.

We sit and stare at Bune in silence for a long time.

The four cavemen come out the forge, and Trak'zor walks straight over to me and kisses me. “Are you ready?”

I stand up. “Yeah. I think that creepy alien spy can wait until after our honeymoon. Guys, don't go to Bune without me.”

“Of course not,” Sophia smiles. “Have a great time, you two. I wish I could see your island.”

“Everyone is invited at all times,” I reply. “When you get there ... um ... maybe yell very loudly and don't stare too hard at the island? And look down if you see something moving out there. I mean, for your own protection. So you don't see anything that's not PG-rated. I mean, we sometimes hold hands. Out in the open, too.”

“Oh, you total slut,” Heidi says. “I bet you don't even wear two pairs of gloves.”

“Then I suppose you got pregnant by the virgin method,” Emilia teases. “I think I've heard of that.”

“Yes,” I agree, “totally a virgin. In my nightmares. Maybe not so much elsewhere.”

“Best kind of virgin,” Sophia says and nuzzles little Jaxia Aurelia. “I'm one, too.”

I look around. “Anyone seen Caroline? I want to say goodbye to her.”

Emilia takes a sip of leaf infusion. “Haven't seen her all morning.”

“I think she went to find herbs,” Heidi says.

I put my crude backpack on and grab my crossbow. “Did she bring a spear?”

“Yes. It's been a while, though. I'll go look for her. From the air.” Heidi grabs a spear of her own.

I straighten my skirt. “She's good with that spear. We'll look for her while we walk, too. If I don't see her, please tell her goodbye from me and I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Bye, guys.”

Heidi and Emilia wave. “Bye now!”

Delyah comes out of the cave and smiles her white smile. “So long. Be safe.”

“You too.”

Sophia takes her infant's little hand and waves it gently. “Jaxia, say 'bye' to Auntie Aurora and Uncle Trak'zor. No, that's a burp. Sorry, she has the most terrible manners. Her father and I are quite distrought about it, don't you know. Seriously, have a great honeymoon, you two.”

“We will.”

I give the girls a final wave and Trak'zor nods and smiles. The other men do the same.

I check my quiver. Full of short, iron-tipped arrows. I don't think this walk will be so bad.

Then I look up at my husband. “You got everything?”

“I've got my wife. That's all I need.”

“Oh, you slick charmer, you.” But of course I melt. He's so sincere!

He takes my hand. “We have a long way to go.”

“And may it never end.”

He pierces me with those double lasers. “It never will.”

“I know.” I squeeze his huge hand, hard, because he can take it.

Then we start walking.

- - -

© Calista Skye 2018

To be continued in summer 2018 with Part 5, which is Caroline's story.

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