Jarn’s Journal Year 5 Day 20

Year 5 Day 20

The shape of the continent I’m on is interesting, but I have time – altogether too much of it, to be honest – and it seems just as reasonable to study the area around the gather lake. Besides, I might spot some of the People coming to the gather. So that’s what I’ve been doing the last few days, and I’ve spotted three groups coming in. I think one is Lion’s, though I was not sure of the other two.

It’s a long lake, oriented north and south, with uplands on either side. Some of them look volcanic, and I suspect the lake is part of a rift valley. It’s quite a distance northeast of my initial landing site, and even of the waterfall that first allowed me to use its energy to counterbalance levitation. The distance these people cover in their migrations is astonishing.

Today I found a fourth group – Rain Cloud’s. They saw me flying, and started waving and jumping in excitement. So I came to earth and assured them that the three who had stayed behind with me were doing well and that I was well cared for. I debated telling them of WildDog, but at last decided that Songbird and Giraffe should have that pleasure. One of the older men was no longer with them, and there was a child I do not remember, about the same size as WildDog. I assume that means about the same age.

It’s easy enough to teleport to any of the areas I’ve mapped, and I have gathered sweet-smelling sap from trees near the long, salty sea and a rich purple-red dye from shellfish I found in the tideless sea. I have plans other than gifts for those!

Jarn’s Journal is part of the back story of the Jarnian Confederation, the universe in which my science fiction stories are set. The journal to date is posted on my author site.

Six Sentence Sunday

Bounce is bringing back the alien that was on the ship, something Coralie had never seen before but Audi was able to identify as a Maung, a creature that is a symbiosis of an insect-like intelligence that can parasitize humans and a mammal-like body. Audi is speaking.

“If it dies out here, that will release the infective symbiont, and we’re probably the nearest potential hosts.  We’re much safer keeping it alive.  The problem’s communication.  Ginger, does that reader of yours have a color panel display?  If it does, I can at least say ‘friend’ and ‘stay with us.’  That’s about it, I’m afraid.”

A color panel display? But why would Audi need that?

I’m going to post from my new short story next week, as I’m making it free that day. It’s actually connected to War’s End, as Timi and Amber (characters in Horse Power) are Coralie’s remote ancestors. I’ll be back to Coralie’s group, though. You want to find out what a Maung looks like, don’t you?

For this week, at least, there are well over a hundred authors posting snippets of their work for Six Sentence Sunday. To find them, just click on the logo below.

Jarn’s Journal Year 5, Day 2

Year 5, Day 2

Still the coast runs eastward, though now south as well. At least the rain has been left behind, though there is now no vegetation. Did I think I was following a desert shore before? I had no idea that such a large area as that now to my east could be so barren!  Sand, mostly, varied by a few rocks and distant hills. When the wind blows, it whips up sand and dust, carrying the dust far over the ocean, and I can no more fly than I could in a thunderstorm. When I can see anything, it is clear that the sand itself is piled into huge waves by the wind. Some days I can feel the sand blowing as I prepare to teleport to the coast, and just don’t bother.

The People should be returning soon, if I am right in thinking they arrive not too long after the northward equinox, what I have taken as the start of the year. Songbird is preparing for her baby’s recognition by the group. She has nagged Giraffe into killing a gazelle fawn, and is tanning the skin to a buttery softness to make little WildDog his first shirt. He’s never worn clothes, so she is dithering about how large to make them. Luckily this is an old problem for Meerkat, who has told Songbird quite firmly to wait until the last minute to see how much he grows. And to wait also to put them on him, as he is quite definitely not housebroken, and (unlike Patches) seems to have no instinct not to soil his sleeping quarters!

I am thinking I should take a day or two off mapping and check the edible date trees I have found, to see if any are ripe. I scooped out a little hollow near the desert coast and filled it with sea water, and the sun is evaporating it so quickly that I should have a good supply of salt to bring back. Obsidian can be collected at the last minute; I’ve found several good sources. Perhaps I should collect that for a parting gift?

Jarn’s Journal is the remote background of my science fiction universe. For all of Jarn’s Journal to date, see my Author site.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 287

Year 4, Day 287

The baby is actually starting to look human. I almost said R’il’nian, but that is not true. The head is smaller, probably to fit through a smaller birth canal, and he still looks rather unfinished. But from what I’ve seen of R’il’nian babies (not much) and what I’ve been able to find from the computer files, he’s normal, just born at a little earlier stage of gestation than is usual with my people.

We had a little naming ceremony when the faint crescent of the new moon was just visible at sunset. Meerkat very officiously escorted Songbird and her new son from the birthing hut, which was then ceremoniously burned. While it was burning, and before the crescent set, Giraffe curled the baby’s hands around the tiny spear he had made and promised to teach him how to use it, and Songbird announced that his name was WildDog, after Patches. I stood by looking benign and feeling rather foolish.

Patches appears to approve the name, and (with a little tweaking of her mind) regards little WildDog as a pack puppy. Getting her to regard him as her own puppy might not be safe for Songbird—the packmate bond is strong, but not so strong that it will prevent a female from attacking a packmate she thinks is stealing her pups!

Giraffe and Songbird seem to have appointed themselves as my acolytes, and I helped Giraffe build a relatively permanent structure for the two three of them to live in. He started out with a somewhat more permanent version of the huts they build for shelter during the rainy season, a sort of brush structure roofed with grass and leaves. I suggested that if he pressed mud against the walls, it would hold it together and I could fuse the surface to stabilize it. Then he suggested that the inside walls might be daubed too, and I offered to fuse the floors. We left an open space between the walls and the roof, for light and air, but it can be filled with thorns to stop predators. In fact, Giraffe devised a very clever shutter system, so that thorny branches fastened to a frame of smooth ones can be lifted into place by hide ropes. More of the creativity these People posses.

Songbird is delighted with her new home. I need to get back to my mapping.

Jarn’s Journal is the fictional journal of an equally fictional human-like alien stranded in Africa 125,000 years ago. His story is part of the back story of my science fiction universe. The journal, as far as it has been written, is on my author site.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 282

Year 4 Day 282

Back to mapping, and to tell the truth I’m getting a little bored. On my right is water. On my left is sand. Now and then the sand is broken by trees and even a bit of grass growing where ground water reaches the roots, or by rocks. There are mountains visible occasionally, which I presume are the source of the ground water, but it is not a very inviting place for hunters.

Giraffe is still planning how to teach his son to hunt, but we are both increasingly frustrated by Meerkat’s insistence that it would be very bad luck for Songbird to come out of the birthing hut, or for a male to enter, until the day of the new moon. How they manage if they are traveling when a child is born is beyond me, and I suspect Meerkat is taking advantage of the fact that neither Giraffe nor I have been near a birthing woman before. It should be only a few more days; the moon is a late waning crescent.

I shall have to make it very clear to Patches that the baby is to be guarded, not treated as prey. She is certainly capable of learning to regard the little one as her own cub, just as she accepts Giraffe and me as her packmates.

One thing bothers me about the mapping: I am fairly sure I am west of where I found the western ocean before, and the coastline has just turned north again. It is hazy, but when I levitate as far as I can go and breathe comfortably, I think I see mountains to the north. Am I mistaken in thinking this almost tideless sea connects to the ocean to the west I found earlier?

Jarn’s Journal is the fictional Journal of a human-like alien stranded in Africa 125,000 years ago. The journal to date is on my author site.

Six Sentence Sunday

Time for another six sentences from War’s End. Bounce has just led Audi into the clearing. Audi, who arrived complaining about the insects, is the first to speak.

“Any idea where we are, Ginger?  Aside from somewhere on Rakal?”

“Low-elevation tropics,” Ginger replied as she pulled the now alcohol-soaked jacket free of the vines and began working at Kelty’s jumpsuit.  “Rub the jacket over exposed skin if the insects get too bad–I’ll make some proper repellent with baby oil added later, but for right now a crude alcohol extract of jacket will help.”

“What exactly do you have in that reader?” asked Audi, as she came up beside Ginger.

“Everything that was in the courier’s library about Rakal and emergency medicine,” Ginger replied.

Six Sentence Sunday is a web ring of authors who post six sentences from anything they’ve written—from first drafts to published novels. To find other great authors, click on the logo below – and we all love comments.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 265

Year 4 Day 265

The river flows into the tideless sea, all right, though it isn’t as tideless as I first thought. When I checked the water level with the position of the moon over several fivedays, it became obvious that there is a very slight rise and fall, so this salt water body must connect somewhere with the tidal sea I found far to the west. Storms and offshore and onshore winds, however, have much more effect on the water level. It is not as salty as the seaway I followed earlier, though still saltier than the open sea once I get well away from the river delta.

I have cut back a little on my exploration, studying the delta in the morning, teleporting back to my home base to check on Songbird at noon, and following the coast westward in the afternoon. So far the coast westward is primarily desert, though there is greenery now and then where there are springs. There must be mountain regions where the water table is recharged, but I have not found them yet.

The delta is fascinating since I figured out how to set the warnoffs to repel the hordes of biting insects — not to mention the water snakes, the hippos and the crocodiles. I don’t think the People would be very happy here. Their advantage of height, of being able to see over the vegetation, would be totally lost in these reed beds.

I wish Songbird would hurry up and have her baby. Meerkat thinks it could be any day now.

Jarn’s Journal is the fictional journal of a fictional human-like alien stranded on Earth roughly 125,000 years ago. He has been befriended by early humans who insist on treating him as a god, much to his annoyance. Right now he is trying to map the coast of Africa while worrying about the child he rescued earlier, who is about to have a child herself. The whole Journal to date is on my author site.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 240

Jarn’s Journal is the fictional journal of a fictional alien stranded on Earth, in Africa, 125,000 years ago, He has found and been accepted as a god (much to his annoyance) by a group of primitive humans. He is trying to map the coastline of Africa while worrying about the child he rescued being about to have her own first child. The full journal (as far as it has been written) is on my author website.

Year 4 Day 240

Meerkat says another moon cycle, and laughs behind our backs at both Giraffe and me. At least we can keep busy, Giraffe with supplying food and hides while I get on with my mapping and contribute an occasional exotic edible.

I decided to investigate both the salty sea and the north-flowing river, spending half of each day on one and then teleporting to the farthest point I have explored on the other. Today I reached the northern end of the salty sea, and found I could levitate high enough to see another ocean to the north, and far to my left a green, swampy-looking area that must be the delta of the river. Tomorrow I will follow the river, which seems the water route to the tideless sea.

The salty ocean does not actually connect with the tideless one, though even a slight rise in sea level would cause a breakthrough. The northward-flowing river, however, evidently does. It’s a good thing I can levitate, as the quick look I got did not suggest that walking the bank of this river would be either easy or comfortable. If nothing else, it looks like an ideal habitat for blood-sucking insects!

I hope Songbird has her child soon, as I don’t think she’ll be able to walk if she gets much larger.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 236

Year 4 Day 236

One of the bits of information that is in the computer files is that pregnant women sometimes crave particular foods, and that seems to carry over to the People. At least Songbird would very much like some dates.

The particular clone of trees I found earlier did indeed produce a fruit that the People relished, but most of the trees of that type do not. Since that clone does not currently have ripe fruit, I added testing of palm trees to my mapping–somewhat doubtfully, as the coastline I am now mapping is pure desert. Today, however, I levitated enough to get an overview of the area (and make myself very short of breath) and while I did not see any ending of this very salty sea to the north, I spotted a thread of green far to the west. A river? Could it flow into the tideless sea I seek?

It was indeed a river, and on its banks grew not only reeds, but date palms. And the river flows northward! I spent the rest of today checking for ripe fruit, feeling for high sugar content. And I found another of the trees with sweet fruit. It must be a rare mutation, so I made sure I memorized the teleport coordinates of that tree as well as gathering some of the fruit.

Shall I continue my mapping of the coastline of the salty sea, assuming that it will eventually meet with the destination of the river? Or start tomorrow from the river and follow it northward?

Whichever way I choose, Songbird (and Giraffe and Meerkat) were overjoyed to have the dates.

Jarn’s Journal is a fictional journal kept by a fictional alien stranded in Africa roughly 125,000 years ago. He is being treated as a god (much to his annoyance) by a group of primitive humans calling themselves the People. The story is the remote backstory to my published novels Homecoming and Tourist Trap and the trilogy I am currently editing. Jarn’s Journal to date is on my author site.

Jarn’s Journal Year 4 Day 90

Year 4 Day 90

Is this possible?

I have been torn between wanting the company of the People and the knowledge that I could not survive as they do. My feet will not stand walking, I am all but helpless without the computer, and I have far less strength and skill than do they. I was happiest with Songbird, but I could not keep her separate from her people. Yet now she wishes to stay with me, along with Giraffe.

Rain Cloud and Dust Devil came together to the portico of my new home this morning, trailed by Songbird, Giraffe and Meerkat. They bowed low, much to my annoyance – I hate having my home treated as a temple. Then they began a long spiel, interrupting each other frequently, about how they wished to honor me but it was difficult when they would soon be moving on after the herds. That they had something in mind that they were not sure I would accept was obvious. Meerkat again?

Songbird had been rolling her eyes for some time when they paused for a moment and she broke in. (I am afraid she learned some very bad manners while she was staying with me.) “Giraffe and I would like to stay with you, to prepare your food and clothing,” she said.

My first reaction was delight. My second, almost as fast, was panic. Songbird is quite definitely pregnant, and I have no idea of how to deliver a baby. Would even the computer have any information on that? Babies are so rare with us that I really was not sure. Furthermore, I have already noticed that these people’s hips, even at their widest, are not as wide as those of a R’il’nian woman during pregnancy.

“Meerkat would stay, too,” she continued. “My mother says she has taught me what she could, but Meerkat has knowledge she does not. And her own clan does not need her – they have others skilled at helping new life into the world.

Skilled at helping new life into the world – a midwife? Suddenly the prospect brightened. Giraffe is an adequate hunter, especially paired with Patches, and I can supplement what he hunts with foodstuffs from places out of his reach. Between Songbird and Meerket that food will be far better cooked than I can manage myself, and with Meerkat as midwife and whatever is in the computer Songbird’s pregnancy is no longer so terrifying. With Songbird and Giraffe present Meerkat is unlikely to become a problem. I can once again devote my time to exploration, to learning as much as I can about this world.

Rain Cloud and Dust Devil were looking at me as if they expected me to strike them with lightning. “I would enjoy their company,” I said.

By my calendar, tomorrow will be the anniversary of Storm Cloud’s death. I think she would be pleased by this turn of events.