------- WARNING: NOOB ALERT --------

First-time writer here. Tear it apart, flame away, I know my writing sucks. In fact, treat it as more of a SUGGESTION of a story than an actual story. It needs to be fleshed out with the addition of romantic scenes, more characters added, deeper detail,
all kinds of stuff I'm no good at.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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She was soaring, in body and spirit. Soaring in pair with her beloved.
Soaring higher and faster than anything else in the sky. Soaring to the very heavens, trying to touch the Goddess Herself.

"Let's go the the place where we can be free."

They slowed down now, higher than ever, began to turn, again and again, describing wild arcs around a sphere, leaving a trail against the violet and gold sunset sky - at first an almost harmonious blue-white, but then shifting to a clashing green. Left, right, back again, almost complete, and now a light fills the center of the sphere, so white, so pure, a light that she could almost fall into... a light that reaches out to embrace them, to fill them, engulf them, become them.

The light became the world, and the world went away.

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Sight returned, then sound. White light, white noise, a ringing in the ears, strangely not annoying, simply THERE, like it had always been a part of her. Sensations, on the skin, in the gut, lightness of head, tastes and smells never known, like everything and yet nothing.

Thoughts came and went; of what, she could not name. They seemed so signifigant as they passed over her mind, but an instant later they were lost in the flow. She couldn't pay attention: there were too many things coming at her. She was mindless, letting a river of knowledge flow through her. Someone was telling her things, too many things, she couldn't hold it all,
couldn't focus.

Sense and thought remained jumbled for some time. Eventually things began to break up: she began to remember, to know that she was knowing, for at last her mind had something to grasp. For the barest instant, the longest eternity,
she was All; she was everywhere, everywhen, past and future and the farthest stars all came together in her. She knew every thought, every feeling, every destiny.

The jumble again; then distinct sensation - flashes of color, bits of sound,
words, tastes, smells, a chaos of rapid stimulus. Slowly the chaos subsided,
the flow slowed down, and at last she found she was herself again, able to think one thing at a time, each thought to conclusion.

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Darkness outside the canopy. She was still in the cockpit, hands on the controls. How long had she sat like this? Wasn't it just dusk?

First things first: make sure everything was there. "Neveril? Are you there? Are you OK?"

"I'm here. I'm fine. You?"

"I'm good." Scan the controls: they were hovering at about their last altitude, no airspeed, as if still. No warning lights. Nothing off about the hum of the motors. "I think we're in one piece." She relaxed once it was clear they were not going to drop out of the sky. "What was all that?"

Silence for a while, as they gathered their thoughts, tried to frame the experience. "We touched God," Neveril finally said. "Became one with Tempus Spatium. I saw...the past, the future, things I can't name..." Another pause. "I don't think we can fully understand it. Not now, at least."

"Hmph. I was kinda expecting we'd see Dominura and Rimone. Or..." She didn't want to say it.

Neveril completed the thought for her. "Or Amuria."

"Mmmm...who knows, she might be out here somewhere." She peered into the darkness. "Where is here, anyway?"

"Let's get our bearings. Face us north."

Eyes starting to adjust to the darkness. Moon nearly full, stars still bright, coruscant light on the horizon heralding dawn an hour away. She checked the compass, rotated to look north. She looked out into the darkness, checking for the familiar stars. After a minute, she gave up.

"What's with these stars? I don't recognize them. Southern sky?"

"No. I know the southern sky pretty well, too. These aren't the stars we've navigated by on night patrol." A thougthful pause. "I wonder if these are our stars at all."

Aer found her attention drawn to the moon. "What's with the moon? Some kind of splotches on it. Almost like water...?" She pondered for a minute before a realization hit her. "The other world? Did we make it? Is this it?"

"Maybe," Neveril said, sounding none too sure. "If it is... we can't take anything for granted. We won't know anything about it."

The possibilites boggled the mind. Aer couldn't wait to see what it was like. "I'm taking us down."

"Wait - we should get a look from a distance first. Do a ri majon."

They did a harmless ri majon that lit the area for several seconds. They seemed to be over a plain, with a forest and lake nearby and low mountains in the distance. Aer lowered them to five hundred feet and lit up again. There were no signs of civilization: no roads, buildings, fences. The land wasn't partitioned.

They set down in a field of long grasses and climbed out. The pair looked at each other for a long moment, embraced, fell to the grass.

"A whole world of our own..." Aer mused. "Just the two of us."

Neveril didn't want to spoil the moment. They lay there together as the dawn crept over the mountains.

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When it seemed near sunrise, Neveril got up and checked the emergency suvival kit under the wing. "Flare gun, flares, bandages, compass, hunting knife... the maps won't be useful here. A service revolver and bullets..." She carefully avoided touching it. "I'm not comfortable with guns. Never learned to use one. You?"

Aer shook her head. "Hunting I can do. Gramps taught me a lot of stuff when we went camping."

"We don't know what we can eat here. For all we know everything is poisonous."

"Well, those emergency rations won't last long. I think we have to try some stuff. Get to know this place. If it's really all that deadly, nothing will save us. We've just got to try."

Neveril couldn't really argue with that. She gave Aer the knife and gun and took the rations for herself. "Where should we start?"

"That forest looks promising," Aer said, pointing the way. They started making for the tree line.

As they walked, a sun crested over distant mountains. By the time they reached the forest - jungle, actually - it was clear it was alone.

"Just one sun. Definitely not our world." Aer turned toward the trees.
"Some morning dew. At least we should be able to drink."

They spent some time looking for useful things: stones, vines, straight branches, fruits and berries they tried tasting. They tasted horrible, but didn't seem entirely inedible. Aer baited a few traps, then they went looking around for small animals hiding in the trees. They carried branches as clubs.

After about another hour with no luck at hunting or trapping, Neveril gestured out to the field, where a heard of beasts was wandering. "Can we try those?"

"We'll have to be careful. We can only take small stuff, and the adults will be protective." She checked the gun. Small caliber, for defense, not hunting.
It might do for smaller prey, but for larger they would have to make spears.

They had almost made it to the herd when they saw them.

The figures were dark, but stood upright and moved like people. As the pair got closer it became clear it was a group of men, darker than any people on their world, with tightly curled black hair. They were naked but for loincloths and some necklaces. All carried spears.

"Wow! Aliens!" Aer said.

"This is their world," Neveril pointed out. "We're the aliens here."

"Right. Looks like they're doing the same thing we are."

"We might not want to get too close. They may be hostile."

"They know how to live here. If we can't get away, we'll need to learn from them."

They approached slowly. The men eventually noticed them and began to speak among themsleves. They weren't using any language Aer had ever heard. It seemed full of clicks and whistles.

"Ummm...hi there!" Aer held up her hands, palms out, hoping they would decide she was harmless. "We're sort of new around here...I'm Aer." She put her hand to her chest. "A-ER."

Neveril also put her hand to her own chest. "NE-VE-RI-L," she enunciated.

The men continued to discuss among themselves for a bit. Finally, one of them made a come-here gesture.

"I think they're trying to sound friendly," Aer said. "And we're in spear range anyway... I would guess they know how to use those things..." She hesitantly walked forward. Neveril followed.

They were soon face-to-face. The oldest-looking one said something.

Neveril looked to Aer, then turned back to the dark man. "We aren't from around here..."

The old man gestured to one of the younger men and gave what sounded like orders. The younger man gestured at the sybillae and started to move off.

"I guess we follow him," Neveril said.

"Where?"

"Probably their camp."

The camp was over a mile away. There were half a dozen animal hide tents and a number of women and children. The women, like their men, wore only loincloths. The children were entirely naked. One of the women looked to be close to giving birth.

The man who had escorted them said a few things to them, then to the women.
After a short discussion, he headed back out. The sybillae understood they were intended to stay at the camp.

"We might as well start learning their language," Neveril said. "We need to be able to understand them if we are to survive."

"Neveril...that child..." Aer pointed at one, who stared back in amazement.

"A male child...?" The sybillae were equally fascinated. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised."

"Do you think they're actaully born like that?" Aer asked.

"They hardly look like they can do it they way the Argentines do."

"You know about that?"

Neveril stared at her pair. "YOU know? I've had some intelligence briefings,
but I didn't think you did..."

Aer blushed. "Well, I sorta... interrogated one once."

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime." Neveril thought it sounded like an interesting story.

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They spent several hours working out basic words with the dark women: Man, woman, child - two words for these, one for male and one for female - tent,
rock, spear, land, sky, words for foods, beasts, kinds of plants. Connecting words would take longer, they knew, but they started getting the basics down.

Their lessons were interrupted when the heavily pregnant woman went into labor. Aer and Neveril could only sit back as the experienced women of the band helped with the birth. Neveril tried not to look, clearly getting disgusted. Aer found it uncomfortable to look at as well, but forced herself to watch.

When the child was out, the women passed it around to look at. Aer and Neveril both found they were expected to hold the child, still covered in fluids. Neveril looked about to turn green afterward.

"They don't know enough to wash their children at birth..." she said.

"We should do them a favor and show them --" Aer said, reaching for a water skin, but Neveril stayed her hand.

"They might take it the wrong way," she said. "Now is not the time."

Aer scowled, but settled down. "Bet the kid dies of infection in a few days."

"At least your question is answered," Neveril said. "They are born male."

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A while later the hunting party came back, two of their number carrying a trussed-up beast. The women quickly set to it with their stone knives, skinning it and carving it for cooking. They had the sybillae sit close; Aer offered to help, having done this before, on smaller animals. Neveril had trouble keeping herself from throwing up.

After everyone had eaten, the old man - Aer didn't think he was that old,
only middle age - talked at length. Aer recognized a few words, including "wife." The man gestured to one of the younger men, little more than a child - definitely too young to go to the Spring on their world, Aer thought -
and motioned him to Aer. Another young man moved to face Neveril.

"Now what?" Aer asked.

"I think we're being married," Neveril guessed.

The young man tried to take Aer's wrist. Aer backed away, waving her hands.
"No. We're not....ummm..." She fumbled with the few words she knew of the tribe's language. "We... not... women... we... child... not... give birth..."

The leader frowned. He spoke again, firmly.

"I don't think we can make him understand," Neveril said. "We may have to.
submit to them for a while."

"No way! I'm outta here!" Aer took off away from the camp.

"Aer!" Neveril chased after her pair. Most of the dark men followed.

They nearly caught the two before the whiteness got them.

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Yeah, crude. Basic idea was to have the pair see everything for themselves.
I realize it's equally valid, and better for some purposes, to have them meet Amuria and the other Emerald pilots straightaway and get a guided tour. If anyone else wants to do it that way, feel free.