Chapter 3: Communication

The Sky Men treated them surprisingly well. Destius and Hestral were allowed to keep their ceremonial rifles while they were escorted through the camp. All the while they were stared at by Sky Men they did not recognize. They were all so… different. Hestral's ear twitched as he tried to comprehend just what he was staring at. They seemed too weird, so strange. They were mostly hairless; most of them had a patch of fur on their heads and some had facial hair. Their skin varied in shade as well. Some were white, black, pale, reddish, and yellowish, among others. They didn't even seem similar. Of course, it was a view of an Outsider looking in. Hestral giggled at the irony.

"What?" Destius whispered.

"Nothing. Nothing." Hestral assured. He went back to sizing up the strangers.

How could they tell each other apart? They looked so similar. But then he looked closer. Their eyes, nose, ears, even their hair gave them individuality. It was so striking to Hestral that he was actually in awe about it. Some of them carried rifles with large magazines that must have held way more than 20 rounds. It was so… strange. He heard a crackle and jumped. "Hah!" he gasped.

The Ancient speaking one said to him in the Sacred Tongue, "Don't be afraid, we're just practicing."

"Practicing for what? Hunting?"

"Not exactly…"

"Why is there more than one crack? I heard boom, boom, boom, boom, one after another."

"Our weapons are automatic… erm… you probably don't know what that means. We don't have to pull back on this every time." He tapped the charging handle.

Once again, Hestral was dumbstruck. "You don't have to…!" he turned to his brother, "Des! Did you hear that? You don't have to pull back on the handle! You can fire one charge after another!"

"Yes, yes, little brother! I heard, I heard." Destius said rolling his eyes slightly.

"Do ALL Sky Men have things like these?"

The older-looking stranger smiled and said to Hestral, "We can talk more inside."

"Inside?" Hestral asked. They were approaching a building that looked like a trapezoid. Strange things were jutting into the sky. A flag whipped in the cold air. Hestral got to his knees and bowed his head.

"What are you doing?" The older Sky Man asked.

"We pray before we enter a foreigner's dwelling." Hestral said. "It's our way of showing we respect others."

"Everyone except your brother, huh?"

Hestral whipped around and saw Destius with arms crossed with a look of defiance on his face. "DES!" He cried out. "Are you crazy?"

"No, Hes. I don't trust them! They come down here, invade our land, and we're supposed to treat them with respect?"

"First off, this isn't our land. We left that two nights ago. Second, they have not said they are better than anybody!"

"What's wrong?" the younger stranger asked.

"He doesn't trust you!"

"HESTRAL!" Destius barked and shoved him. "Why don't you tell them you wet the bed as well?"

"Fuck off!"

"He can remain outside if he wants." The older man said in Ancient.

"Gladly. Destius, he says you can stay outside."

"I thought you'd never say so. Go ahead, go and talk with them. I'll stay out here."

Hestral shook his head and followed the Ancient-speaking Sky Men inside. He felt warmer at once. It was probably a magic of theirs that they could control at will. It was like the Shamans could even learn from these people. They came to a room with seats around a flat piece of wood and metal.

"What's this?"

"This is a table. In our more used language, we call it 'tay-bull'."

Hestral imitated, "Table."

"Good. Nice pronunciation."

"Have a seat. Take a seat. Whichever metaphor you feel comfortable with. Please, sit down."

Hestral did as he was asked, and felt cushioned by the chairs. He liked it a whole lot. It was a hell of a lot better than rocky ground.

"Would you like water? Wine? Juice?"

"Oh? Just water. That would be fine."

At once, a tiny metal animal raised a cup to him. Hestral reached for his rifle.

"Hold on! It's not going to hurt you." The Sky Man said. The tiny metal animal made a buzz. It only wanted to be useful. Hestral apprehensively grabbed the cup. The metal animal buzzed away, chirping happily. "It's only there to help us."

"What was that?"

"I'll get to that. First, allow me to formally introduce ourselves: My name is Sanchez." He extended a hand. "Major Antonio Sanchez."

Hestral knew this greeting well. He grasped the Sky Man's hand and shook it.

"You know about handshakes! Good!"

"It's the proper way to greet. Were you expecting something else?"

"Perhaps, but that's not a problem. I've told you my name. Who are you?"

"My name is Hestral."

"Just Hestral?"

"Hestral Ugmali'Esshocal:Imo'hoptenka."

"Ah… How about just Hestral?"

"If you'd like." The Mobian said.

"I hope that you aren't taken aback by all of this."

"I… I am shocked by everything. Birds that catch fire, carts without horses, this is… is it magic?"

"No, Hestral." Sanchez said. "This isn't magic. Maybe to you it may seem like it, but this is only what happens when people put their minds together and overcome their environment."

Hestral looked out of a window to see a metal bird rising into the sky. "Will we have metal birds?"

"Maybe someday. That can be sooner than you think."

"What?"

"I'll get to that in just a moment. Have a drink."

Hestral licked his lips and took a sip. He gasped with delight and surprise. It was colder than he thought. "Bel'she!" He said in his native tongue.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh. I said it was wonderful. You've kept it cold! How do you do this?"

"We can make things colder if we want to. We can even make things warmer. Like this."

He retrieved a black steaming liquid from the metal animal and drank from it. "This is the good stuff." The stranger. "Can I ask you a question: Why do you call us 'Sky Men'?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hestral said smiling.

"Point taken. Next question: Why do you call Russian Ancient?"

"What?"

"Sorry, that's what this language is called. We're speaking in Russian. It's one of many languages we speak."

Hestral looked a bit confused. "There's more than one Ancient language?"

"There is. I was raised on a world where I spoke a language called English. I suppose you can call that an Ancient language."

"What does that one sound like?"

"This is the language I was taught to speak. It's a widely spoken language."

"It doesn't sound like Ancient… I mean, Russian." Hestral was intrigued by it. He was leaning forward. "Can you… teach it to me?"

"No, I can't, but you can learn it if you want."

"How?"

"This is the real reason why I want to speak to you: we are here to learn more about this planet. It looks very much like the home we came from. I'm not sure if you'll understand."

"No please. What do you mean?"

"Ah… OK, how do I do this. OK. You live on a planet, which is a large mass of land and water, which moves around the sun. Do you understand?"

Hestral nodded. Sanchez' eyebrow arced. "Alright. Now, picture the exact same world, but in another existence all its own."

Hestral's eyes moved from side to side, trying to compute what the Sky Man was saying. "Like a twin?"

"Exactly. Excellent analogy!"

"What do you call this place?"

"We call it Earth." He said this in English.

"Earth." Hestral repeated. "It sounds strange to me. So you come from this twin world Earth, and you wish to know of this one."

"Correct."

"So, how can we help you?"

"Tell me of your tribe. How long have you been around?"

"I was born twenty winters ago."

"No, I mean your tribe."

That question made him think. He was taught the basic history of his clan. The Uralle had been strong since before his grandfather was born. That was almost a hundred years ago. Only the Shamans knew the full history of the clan, and that was a secret that only they found.

"I don't know." Hestral said.

"Hmm…" Sanchez rubbed his chin. "Have you ever seen places of old; places that seem like they were built before your ancestors? Think Hestral. This is crucial to why we are here."

"I… I still don't know."

"Hestral, I cannot stress this enough. What if I were to tell you that we have reason to believe that the Ancients, the First Ancients might still be alive?"

Hestral's eyes went wide. "The… The First Ancients? The Ones who walked the World since time immemorial? Oh, that… that's blasphemy!"

Sanchez seemed interested. "Why is that blasphemy?"

"The… Ancients left this world a long time ago. The goddess swept them away… but I'm not sure whether they committed a blasphemy or ascended. Only the Shamans know."

Sanchez smiled warmly. "If you can tell us more about this land, we can help you gain closure. If you know where the Cities of the Ancients once stood on this world, we can help you figure out what happened to them."

Hestral's heart was beating against his chest. He had never been more excited in his life. He was being given a chance to know what only the High Shamans did. His curiosity was burning brighter than a fire, but he also knew deep down that by learning the secrets that the Shamans did, he was running the risk of committing a blasphemy. He gave his opinion to the Sky Man.

"I respect your culture's opinions, Hestral," Sanchez said, "but we need a guide. If you're here, you and your brother are scouts. You are the best chance we have to understanding this land. We can sweeten the deal if you wish."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Sorry. Another idiom." Sanchez giggled. "It's a thing I do. What I mean to say is we can make our offer seem more appealing: have you ever wondered about the stars at night?"

The Sky Man was tempting him, and Hestral was wavering.

"What do you know about the stars?"

Hestral's voice was weak, "They are extremely far away. They are like the sun in the sky."

"I'm surprised you know that."

Hestral shrugged and took another drink of the cold water. "It's just what we are taught. I don't think I'll ever see them."

"Would you like to?"

Hestral nearly choked on a chunk of ice. Was this… stranger offering to take him to the stars? Hestral had so many more questions, so many more things to ask, but his culture was pulling him back, preventing him from being swept away in the knowledge that he was hearing. After he thought about it, he had no reason not to believe the Sky Man. They had birds that could take them into the sky… why shouldn't he believe them?

He was so unsure. He was so tempted, to help people gain knowledge and further his own desires… it just seemed perfect. He needed more time to think it over though. "I… I need to sleep on this. I cannot make a decision so easily. Allow me to talk to my brother about this."

Sanchez shrugged. "I fully support that. As a matter of fact, we can extend the invitation to your brother as well as you to stay within our base tonight. We had warm beds, hot meals, and we can offer you no better protection than what we have. You will be safer here than anywhere in the entire country."

Once again, Hestral was tempted. This time though, he rose to leave. The wolf walked towards the door and almost stepped on the metal animal. A thought popped into his mind. "One more thing. What do you truly call yourselves?"

"Sorry?"

"Your real names. I use Sky Men to refer to you, but that can't be your real name. What is the name of your people?"

Sanchez said, "We are the Human race."

"Human." Hestral repeated. "Human." He smiled. "Thank you." He continued outside and let the door close behind him.