This is a selection from the Journal of Jarn, a R’il’nian starship designer who (in my science fiction) was stranded on Earth when his ship failed some 125,000 years ago, during the interglacial which preceded the one we are in. The two novels I’ve written are much more recent — supposedly about the time George Washington was born. But this is the beginning of the universe they describe.

Day 351

Never again will I try to teleport an unconscious sentient who does not know and trust me!

Oh, it worked. She is in my shelter. But it also produced a night and a day of the most violent nightmares it has ever been my misfortune to experience! And experience them I did – she has no idea of how to shield her emotional broadcasts, and she does broadcast. Loudly.

At the moment, I am a good half hour’s walk from the shelter. Distance does help, a little. Patches is very puzzled, though willing to accept that the child is to be guarded, not regarded as food.

Physically, she is doing well. I can shield, though not without losing my ability to spot predators approaching, and I have been shielding and checking her regularly. She is not fevered, and aside from the occasional flailing about from the nightmares, she seems to be resting quietly. If only her mind were as quiet!

I suppose I had better get back to the shelter. The sun will be setting soon, though I doubt I will get much more sleep than last night. I made her a bed of sorts, with some of the insulation from the ship, and luckily it is on the floor. She may roll away from the padding, but at least there is nothing for her to fall off of.

I wonder what she will think when she does wake up? She looks very much like a young R’il’nian, but will she see me as being of her own species? Will she think I am merely from another tribe? Or do they have tribes? If they do, are the relations between them friendly? They must be!

Unless …

They must mate with non-relatives, but in some animals one sex disperses and finds a new group.

Will she trust me enough to let me help her?

What have I done?

The earlier parts of Jarn’s Journal are on my author website.