Chapter 8
I was quickly accustoming to life in Yellowstone National Park. As I grew older, I grew a little wiser, a little more knowledgeable about the area that I called home. I was getting taller, too, now a little under half the size of my parents, just large enough now to supply my own warmth when the coldest months of the year rolled in. The park was coated in snow, and most of our people spent the days eating the food they had collected, hanging around the wonderful hot springs and sleeping for about fifteen hours a day. (I knew that because Toby had since taught me about time. Hours, minutes, seconds, etc… She even provided me with something called an alarm clock.) School days were still just as frequent, however, to take advantage of our rapidly developing kawatnoj brains. Most of us were now at the stage where we could harvest bark with our parents without constant supervision. Father was delighted at how eager I was to aid him in the daily harvests.
Toby was, once again, absent from the park. I found that the longer I spent with her, the more information I could deduce from the way she acted, and a few days before she left on a trip to Washington D.C., some place I imagined was pretty far away, I could sense her growing nerves. She was a little edgy, agitated. Strange how, seeing those moments of weakness in her, I learned much more about her than when she was smiling or playing with her family. I realised that her duties with the Humans, something which I knew would someday fall to me, were a constant source of anxiety and stress. She couldn't stand it, and she relished the time spent with me and the rest of my people more than I could have thought. It didn't fill me with much hope for my own future, and the pain of her stress was something I often found seeping its way into my own psyche.
She brought books for me to read. At first it was all very colourful and exciting, with books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat, which I found utterly delightful. I thought that I had mastered books, but my cockiness was misplaced when Toby brought back more books that were a little more advanced. There were more words to a page, with finer print and a more complicated language. I took them back to my tree as homework, but the more I brought back, the more my family would hijack them to marvel at the colourful illustrations within. They loved them, too, but for different reasons entirely.
Lenk never took much part. In fact, he was rarely home whenever I got back.
The books were full of situations and subjects that were completely unfamiliar to me. I would always be asking the nearest adult what a particular word meant, what some strange object was that I had never heard of before, and about solutions which often baffled me. There was so much of the world that I had not explored, and even back then I knew that the park we inhabited was but the tiniest speck of a diverse world, and in each book there was something new to learn. Creatures that I could never have imagined, places that seemed so perfect and places that seemed so distressing.
But Toby was keeping secrets from me again. Not only had she still spoken little of her own past, but when she chose books for me to read, I could tell that they had gone through a selection process. There were books in her tree that she would not permit me to read, even though my skills were at a level high enough. It frustrated me that even after all this time, there were still so many secrets that she held.
She knew everything about me. Yes, probably everything. She would be the first I ran to after being berated by my parents for some silly prank I pulled, the only one I shared my problems with. She was the only one who seemed to understand my situations on more than just an emotional level. She was my guide. But whenever I spilled my guilts and pains to her, I would get a caring soul and nothing else in return. I had confronted her about it, and yet she still revealed nothing, but implored me to trust her.
Anyway, she was away again, which meant that my private tutoring sessions were no longer a part of my daily routine. When the school hours were over, I usually went off to do some exploring with Pluk, Ruga, and occasionally other peers before Mother or Father came to collect me. The winter was at its peak, so we wasted no time on that particular day in beginning a snowman (or snow-Bajir, which I suppose is more technically correct).
"This boring." Ruga complained in his usual style.
I groaned, having almost applied the finishing touches to our, admittedly, poor effort. It looked less like a Hork-Bajir and more like just a big dollop of snow from the tree above us. It had pinecones for eyes, at least.
"It's nearly done." I explained, patting down the snow that formed the "neck". "What would you suggest we do instead?"
Ruga and Pluk gazed at me.
"Ugh," I grumbled, hating to always have to repeat myself in a way more accessible to them. "What do you want to do?"
"Something warm." Pluk shivered. "Snow is cold. Pluk feet cold."
"Very cold." Ruga agreed. "Go somewhere warm."
Pluk perked up, an idea popping into his head. "Explore! Find somewhere warm!"
I nodded, becoming irritated by the cold snow, myself. I took a moment to consider our options, searching my memory for places devoid of snow. I thought of the hot springs, and how maybe that would be the best place to start.
"Find Humans!" Pluk offered. "Humans always in warm places."
It was a good point, and one that I was sure I should have thought of first. "Yes. They always seem to be in warm places." I mused.
"What is Humans?" Ruga queried.
Pluk laughed in disbelief. "Ruga not know Humans?"
Ruga closed his eyes to search through his memory. It didn't take long for him to reassert, "No. What is Humans?"
"Humans small." Pluk commented. "Not have blades, and sound very… very…" Instead of finding a suitable word, he continued to perform a scarily accurate high-pitched ramble, consisting of nonsense words but being very Human in style.
I nodded to Ruga. "They look very strange. Father showed them to me before."
He huffed childishly. "Ruga father never show Ruga Humans…"
"I'm sure he would have done in time." I assured him. "Anyway, we can go find some now. I know the perfect place."
I guided Pluk and Ruga away from the failed snowman and towards an area I had only visited once. Despite the sole visit, I remembered the area well when I recalled the locations of various landmarks. There was a large deposit of rocks in small clearing, and there was a stream running southwards from the mountains.
We came to a fence that lined the barrier of a cluster of trees. Pluk and Ruga were amazed at the structure, and they dawdled for a while as they inspected the wood-and-wire obstacle. However, their amusement at the fence was soon dwarfed by their reaction to the building that I had visited months ago.
Nothing had changed, but for the accumulation of a thick layer of snow on the roof. Lights shone through the small square holes in the building's sides, and a spotty collection of cars (who I had familiarised myself with from a couple of books Toby had allowed me to read) on a flat black ground lay around the edges. It looked so invitingly warm, despite its ambiguously cold outer appearance.
Pluk and Ruga were utterly entranced by the foreign structure. It wasn't long before the decision to visit came under scrutiny.
"This where find Humans?" Pluk asked me, perched on the fence beside me.
"Yes. I have seen Humans in here before. They move around the park in those things there." I pointed out the "beasts" that surrounded the building. "They're called cars."
They both went silent, not particularly interested in the cars but in the massive structure that was like no tree they had ever seen before.
"Ruga not want to go…" Ruga whined, retreating down from the fence and shivering from more than just the frozen snow.
"You are scared?" I laughed.
"Ruga always scared." Pluk joined, impersonating Ruga's shivering and chuckling along with me.
Ruga, forced into an awkward position, raised his body to appear unaffected by our taunts. "Ruga not scared! Big scary tree not scary!"
"Ruga come with Taku and Pluk, then." Pluk suggested with a big grin on his face.
"Yes, Ruga," I tried persuasively. "Come with us. Or stay in the snow."
Ruga whined and stamped his right foot in annoyance. "Ruga not want to stay in snow. Snow cold."
"Then come with Taku and Pluk." Pluk suggested, already throwing his tall frame over the wire fence. "Big tree look warm."
I followed Pluk in passing the fence, and Ruga, though reluctantly, soon followed along with a grumble. We came to the edge of the snow and onto the black ground on which the building and the cars sat, and an instant feeling of loving warm shot up our legs, our feet no longer entrenched in a thick layer of snow. Of course, we were still cold, but the removal of the troublesome snow came as a great relief. We jogged forward towards the building, dodging a few stray cars along the way.
"Car is strange." Pluk commented as we passed the first one, a shiny blue one that held a thin layer of snow on its top. Being exceptionally tall, almost at average adult height despite his age, he had to look downwards to observe more than just the layer of snow.
"Humans go inside them." I mentioned, stepping to his side. "I don't know how they get in, though."
Pluk moved his head closer, lowering his self slightly to press his snout to a transparent layer on the car's upper half. Intrigued, he proceeded to raise his claws and placed them on its side.
He seemed amazed by the interior. "What is funny stuff inside?" He punctuated with a laugh. None of us had an answer to the question.
Ruga joined Pluk in gazing inside, as did I. He was the first to lose interest, however.
"Still cold. Go inside big tree now?" Ruga urged.
"Yes. Go inside now." Pluk agreed. He retreated his face from the car and began to leave, but in the process his claws scraped painfully down the side of the car's blue body. The high-pitched, harsh sound made us all cover our ears.
The car now bore a number of distinct scratches on the side. None of us knew of any significance, so we thought nothing of it. I have since learned that Humans prize their cars very much, and even superficial scratches send them into hysterics. Thankfully, we never bore the wrath of the Human whose car we had damaged, because we moved along quite speedily.
The task of gaining entry to the building was one that at first seemed daunting, but when we heard activity coming from the side, we jumped behind another car just as we noticed a Human exiting through two large "flaps" in the distance. The Human was quite pale, but with a dark patch of hair on its head. It wore a bizarre collection of clothing that included a seemingly pointless droopy blue piece of cloth strung around the neck. It headed away from us and towards a random car elsewhere.
"That is Humans?" Ruga asked, before breaking down into giggles. "Humans look funny."
"Yes. Humans funny." Pluk agreed, standing up tall when the Human had walked out of sight.
I looked over to where the Human had emerged from. The two rigid flaps in the building's side were our way in, so I looked around for signs of any Humans before sprinting over. We arrived at the two flaps, and after a cursory glance, I wrapped my hands around the large cylindrical pieces of metal present on each. I pulled them open, and was greeted with a wonderful, warm breeze.
The three of us almost collapsed, satisfied by the sudden rise in temperature.
"Warm…" Pluk whispered.
I nodded my agreement and happily basked in the warm current of air that rushed out to us. Looking inside the building, there was a large open area flourished in bright lights that led down a long path. There were more large "flaps" on each side. I saw no Humans.
I took a few tentative steps until I breached the boundary to the inside. My feet moved from a rough, stony layer to an unnervingly smooth one. My toe nails clicked against the surface, and I heard more behind me when Pluk and Ruga followed. We let the flaps close behind us, and now we were fully inside. We were most definitely curious, and the three of us spent a considerable time observing the immediate environment.
It was quite spectacular. Large rectangular objects above us cast down light, as if the sun had been cut up and stored within a transparent layer in order to help us see. The walls were perfectly flat, so they obviously weren't natural, but made by the hands of Humans.
"What that mean?" I heard Ruga ask. I followed his pointed finger to a small rectangular piece on the wall. It had numbers and letters depicted on it.
"It says, "Offices 1-12", that way." I pointed down the corridor.
"What is offices wontootwelve?" Pluk asked.
I smiled. "I think we should find out."
We strolled down the long narrow pathway further into the building, toe nails clipping rhythmically below us. I was certain that the noise would attract the attention of nearby Humans, but none ever came, even as we were passing by the lines of flaps in the walls which no doubt led to the "offices". Each flap was numbered, and I counted our way to the end of the corridor. There was another pair of flaps at the very end, but these ones held transparent layers that allowed us to peek through. On the other side was a massive open area, comprising of a much more impressive décor. In the centre of the circular room was a large elevated piece of rock, out of which sprayed a great fountain of water, and the walls around the fountain opened up to varying areas, each one topped with a logoed banner. One of the banners said Ticket Office. Another was a red background with a large curvy yellow "M". The others were a little harder to see.
There were Humans. Not many, but enough to stop us going through.
I heard Ruga whimper. "Too many Humans." He muttered.
"It's okay," I hushed him. "We don't need to go in there. It's warm enough here."
Our attentions were diverted with a loud creaking noise from our right. We turned to see Pluk, hand pressing against the flap in the wall labelled number seven. He swivelled his neck around to peek inside.
"Any Humans?" I asked him.
"No Humans." He answered before pushing the flap fully open and walking inside.
Curiosity again piqued, I pursued him inside. The first thing to tug at my eyes was a large raised surface in the centre, topped by a few piles of paper and a big white boxy object. I had seen one in a book before, and I was sure that it was called a computer.
The walls were much more alive with colour, in the form of large sheets of paper coated in words and letters and exaggerated illustrations. One of them displayed quite a muscly Human wearing blue and red clothing, with a large "S" on its front. The accompanying words read Superman Returns.
There was no lighting in the office, so it was a little darker, but not too much that we couldn't make out the objects around us. We proceeded to explore, something that we all considered ourselves experts at.
"Ruga find food!" I heard from across the room as I delved head first into a small basket on the floor. Moments later, Ruga raised his voice again, but this time it was a nonsensical expression of disgust. Whatever food he had found, he didn't like the taste of it.
I gave up on my small basket. All I could find was scrunched-up bits of paper and some mucus-covered tissues. Nothing edible, nor anything of real interest. My companions had been rustling through all the office paperwork and files, creating quite a mess. Pluk was chewing on a damp piece of scrunched paper, and Ruga was equally appetised by a set of pencils, some of which he chewed on, the others he seemed to be playing a little game with.
"Pluk like it here." Pluk mentioned, now rummaging beside the computer.
"I like it, too," I said. "But I don't think we should stay here long. A Human may come in."
Pluk laughed loudly. Loudly enough that both I and Ruga shushed him.
"We close big bit of wood." Pluk suggested, heading back to the flap in the wall and pushing it shut. "Now no Human see Pluk, Taku and Ruga."
I saw a major flaw in that plan, but I didn't think it really mattered. After all, Toby had assured me that the local Humans had no issue with Hork-Bajir presence, so I doubted anything bad would happen were we to be found. The only thing that worried me was the consequence if my parents found out.
Even if we were caught, I didn't think Mother or Father would find out. The Humans wouldn't tell them. At least, that's what I hoped.
I shook the thoughts away to see Pluk once again examining the elevated space around the computer. He picked up a large rectangular object in his hand and inspected it closely. Half of the outer layer had been peeled away, revealing a dark brown block, separated into small cubes.
"What this?" Pluk asked. Ruga plodded over to have a look for himself.
I craned my neck to inspect the flat object he held. "I saw one of those in a book once. That's a chocolate bar."
"Choclit bar…" Pluk mused. "What it do?"
"Humans eat them." I told him. "They seem to like them."
Before I could advise against it, Pluk raised the bar to his snout and plonked the entire confection into his mouth. By the time I voiced my objection, he had chewed and swallowed it. Wrapper included.
"How it taste?" Ruga asked of him.
Pluk was still evaluating the taste, licking his lips and gulping down what remained. Then, he dropped his jaw and gagged, nausea in his expression. "Not taste good." He explained.
Ruga and I both laughed. Pluk then joined in, though he still looked displeased with the taste of the chocolate.
We went back to rummaging, and it didn't take me long to find something that directed my attention. On the other side of the room lay a Human construction made of filed wood that housed objects on three ascended platforms. Most of the objects were books, and those were exactly what I was looking for.
I pulled books from their home one at a time, carefully observing the front covers to find something of interest. Most of them were academic, information that I couldn't quite understand. I was quite, no, very interested in books with pictures. They were my favourites.
I was about to give up hope on finding anything that was either readable or intriguing to me, but one of the last books I removed was most definitely suitable. It was called Hork-Bajir: An Illustrated Guide. The image on the front was one of group sat, huddled around a blazing campfire. I found that pictures were plentiful within the large, if thin book. I withdrew to the office chair and began to read, while the other two played some game using a box of paper clips they had encountered.
The book was like nothing I had read before. For one thing, it wasn't a story, more a documentation of our people. Other than that, it was much more in-depth than what I was used to, and a lot of the language used was unfamiliar and strangely formed. Words popped up that I had never encountered before, their meanings evading me. The most prominent included those such as war, slavery and Yeerks. The words meant nothing to me.
I was surprised to see that Toby Hamee was mentioned a few times. Maybe someday I could be in a book like this. I was a seer like her, after all. Surely that was why she was mentioned so often. Though, her mother was mentioned a few times as well, and I knew that she wasn't like Toby as soon as I had met her.
I lost myself in the book, finding a section on Hork-Bajir culture that I could read with better ease and forgetting most of what was going on around me. I was enjoying the book very much, and I was disappointed knowing that I could only read it for our limited duration in the Human building, but that only made me treasure the time here more fully.
A disturbing noise filled the room and stole me from my trance. I looked up from my seat over to where Pluk and Ruga were playing their game. Pluk had vomited between them as they sat on the floor, coating the paper clips they played with, and a small proportion of Ruga's legs, in his stomach contents.
"Ah!" Ruga yelped, staring down at his vomit-covered legs. "Pluk cheat! Game ruined now!"
Pluk wiped at his lower jaw and looked to Ruga apologetically. "Choclit not good for Pluk. Make Pluk feel bad. Feel better now, though!"
Ruga grimaced. "But Ruga dirty now."
I sighed and closed the book, though not before marking the page with a loose piece of paper from beside the computer. "I don't think Human food is good for Hork-Bajir." I said to Pluk, coming down from my chair to assess the situation.
He shook his head in agreement. "Not good. Now Pluk thirsty."
"There isn't any water in here." I noted.
"See water coming from big rock." Pluk suggested, reminding us of the large elevated spring in the circular room.
"But Humans there." Ruga whined.
"They wouldn't hurt us." I surmised. "Let's go see if there are any by the water."
So far, we had escaped the eyes of any nearby Humans. We had heard the footsteps of one or two as they passed by the room, but none of them came in to see us messing up the office. It had been a while since we heard the last, so we were confident enough to walk out into the longer, narrow pathway again that branched off to other offices. As we suspected, there were no Humans. I had taken the book with me, holding it under my arm, so that I could continue reading while they utilised the spring.
We kept our guard up and peeked through the transparent part of the flaps that led to the large circular room. The elevated spring in the centre seemed ever more appealing now, with the scent of Pluk's stomach contents invading the air, and from our angle, we saw no Humans present. In fact, a number of the lights that had previously illuminated the area had ceased, and everything appeared much darker.
"I can't see any Humans." I said quietly.
Taking that as his cue to move, Pluk pushed open the two flaps into the spring room. The three of us stepped cautiously onto the new floor, turning our heads to investigate the area. Still no Humans around.
Ruga, satisfied with the situation, jogged over to the spring that gushed noisily in front of us. "Ruga get clean now!" He exclaimed.
"Ruga," I called after him. He stopped and faced me. "I think Pluk should drink first."
Pluk nodded. "Pluk drink. Then Ruga clean."
Pluk strolled to the elevated rock, lowered his body and dipped his snout into the flowing water.
I sat away from them with my book to quieten the sounds of Pluk's playful gurgling and Ruga's splashing as they took advantage of the spring. I opened up to my saved page and once again immersed myself in the words.
I wasn't sure how long I had been reading, but I had adjusted so that I was sat on the edge of the spring, one knee folding towards my chest and my tail lazily swishing the water behind me.
Perhaps reading wasn't the best idea at the time, because I had no idea what was going on around me.
"Taku!" I heard from over the sound of rushing water. I lifted my eyes away from the book and took a few cursory glances of the area in front of me. There didn't seem to be any reason to stop reading, so I didn't.
My name was called again, but this time it was more distant. I put the book down and stood up straight so that I could see Pluk and Ruga. They had moved. They were no longer at the side of the spring. A little uncertain, I craned my neck to better observe the room.
I spotted my companions. They were running back towards the flaps in the wall that we had come from. They must have been playing a game of Chase, a game I enjoyed very much. So I marked my page in the book again, held it under my shoulder, and proceeded to jog in their direction.
As I circled the spring, I passed the point where the water blocked my view to the right.
Something moved. It cut off my path and charged before me from behind the spewing water, tall and dark. My feet tangled, slipped on the smooth flooring and I collapsed heavily onto my back, but with the adrenalin that had immediately took control of my body, I scrambled quickly to my feet and bounded in the opposite direction.
I didn't look back, afraid to see the large Human following me as I struggled to find a direction to go in. I heard shouting, not Hork-Bajir but Human, and from what I could hear, there was more than one. Going full circle around the spring wasn't an option, and I couldn't get back to Pluk and Ruga without being caught.
Perhaps the Humans that had appeared from seemingly out of nowhere weren't out to hurt me. That was what I kept telling myself ever since we'd arrived in the building, but the shock of their appearance and the fear of the unknown erased all rational thought from my head. I was running for my life, and I didn't stop for long enough to assess the predicament.
There was a pair of flaps in the wall on the other side of the spring, so I went for it and slammed without hesitation through them, finding myself encased within another long passageway, entrances to other rooms stretching out on my left and right. I decided that I would have a better chance the further along I went, so I hurried down to the very end of the pathway, hoping that it led to the outside world like the one we entered into.
It didn't. There was a single flap at the end of the passageway, and it led to a cold, dark room filled with the scent of chemicals and dampness. Feeling that it was my best option, I crept inside and closed the flap behind me, determined to wait for the Humans to give up on finding me.
The room was cold, and I could not see very well. My leg caught on something hard and I almost collapsed to the ground. Eventually, I found somewhere to sit, just out of view of the room's entrance, in case any Human was to come in. I had dropped my book somewhere back by the spring when I bumped into the first Human, so I only had myself for company.
I curled up where I sat, nervously picking at the grooves in my tail blades. The room was eerily silent, unwelcoming, the walls so tight and claustrophic.
Pluk and Ruga may have gotten away. The last I saw of them, they had re-entered the long passageway that led to the outside. How I wished to be outside right now. I wanted familiarity, but there was nothing at all familiar here. Even the air tasted different.
Minutes passed, and it wasn't long before I stopped panicking. I knew that I had overreacted. Now, though, I was lost and alone. I started to sob to myself, tucking my limbs over my head.
Then a beam of light crept over my stray leg. A creak accompanied the opening of the room's entrance, followed by the clomping of Human footsteps.
By now, my fear of the Humans had dissipated, replaced by the fear of the environment around me. I lifted my head slowly to look over the box I sat beside to see a Human staring down at me, long, brown hair flowing from its head in curls.
"Hey," It spoke. "You shouldn't be here."
I stared at it, partially relieved of its presence but still racked by adrenalin and the cold air.
The Human reached up to a small device on the wall, and with a click the room was immediately filled with golden light. I saw its face more clearly now.
"Come on, you've got to go back outside. You should go home."
I steadily pulled myself up to my feet, still keeping my focus on the Human, whose high-pitched voice gave me the impression that it was a female.
"Where are my friends?" I asked of her.
The Human smiled and leant up against the wall. "They're fine. In fact, they left the building, and then came back to look for you. They're waiting in the central hall."
I sighed. In a way, I was angry at myself for being so childish, so stupid as to isolate myself in such a small room when all I had to do was ask for help. I mistrusted the Humans when I had no reason to.
She held out a tiny Human hand to me. Seeing the kindness in her, I didn't hesitate to waddle over and take it. Though I was about half her size, my hand was about double hers, but she didn't seem to care. She led me out of the cold room and down the illuminated passageway to the central hall.
"Why were you hiding in the janitor's closet?" The Human asked.
"I was running. Now, I don't think I should have. I guess I was just shocked."
The Human came to a stop halfway down the passage. I looked up to see her eyes narrowed right back at me. She appeared stunned, and she curiously eyed me over.
"What's your name?" She questioned.
"My name is Taku Kelmut. What is your name?"
"Millie." The Human responded. Then, she bent her knees and came down so that she was at my level. "Taku, could you please tell me why you were here?"
I shrugged and averted my gaze in a vain attempt to hide my guilt. "It's very cold outside. We just wanted to find somewhere warm, and we thought that this building would be warm enough."
Millie nodded. "Security found a book by the fountain. Did you move it?"
"Yes, Millie," I replied. "I was reading it. I dropped it when I saw the Humans. Toby told me not to be scared of the Humans around here, but…" I kicked my right foot lightly against the smooth flooring. "I don't know."
"Toby Hamee?"
I looked her in the eyes again. "Yes, Toby Hamee."
Millie guided me back to the central hall where I was reunited with Pluk and Ruga, who, to my surprise, were introducing themselves to the building's security guards. I learned from them that after they ran from the building, they noticed that I was still missing and actually searched out the nearest Humans so that they could help locate me. Millie, part of the security team, was the Human I first bumped into, and she saw me run down the passageway to the janitor's closet. She checked every room in that passageway until she found me.
Despite the raised spirits and the relief that all turned out well, the building's security had a few words to say about our trespassing. We accepted the chastisement and left the building, knowing that perhaps our exploring games should be a little more limited from then on.
The room that we had, to put it bluntly, trashed, belonged to Millie. She seemed to be very kind though, and she held nothing against us. In fact, she let me borrow the book on Hork-Bajir that I had been reading.
All turned out surprisingly well. That is, until I got home, when my parents berated me for not being present near the school to be picked up. Not only that, but the Humans at the building, determined not to have such an incident occur again, implored me to tell Mother and Father exactly what had happened. I could have mentioned nothing, but my absence from the school grounds was enough to raise their suspicions, and coming home with a new book while Toby was still away in Washington gave them all the clues that they needed. They forced the truth out of me.
Needless to say, I wasn't in their good books that night.
