Aston stared in resigned astonishment at the second underground city they had discovered. Like the first one in pretty much every way, except this one was clearly inhabited. Dozens of creatures stood all around him, Ronda Tate and Jen Galicia, with bloodstone knives and spears all pointed menacingly.
His initial thought had immediately gone to aliens, the “grays” so commonly referred to in popular culture and conspiracy theories. But after a moment it became clear they were something different. Almost certainly not aliens, he decided, but hominids who had evolved and adapted to their subterranean surroundings. Where they may have originated, why they had been here, were questions he thought may perhaps never be answered, unless they could communicate. Even then, how much of their own history would they know? The habitation, the simplicity of the city, pointed to a largely undeveloped society, not unlike he imagined the Neanderthals of history to have been. But these creatures bore no resemblance to heavy-browed, hairy, dark-skinned cavemen he’d seen in displays at museums.
Small of stature, these people had pale, almost bone white, skin, and lean, spindly muscles stretched along fine limbs. Their skinny bodies made their heads appear overlarge. Their eyes were even larger than their heads should have allowed, with huge pupils, which Aston presumed were for drinking in maximum light. They had very little body hair, and what did cover their heads was wispy, nearly transparent. Their spear shafts were made of all manner of improvised tools, most clearly scavenged from other people like himself who had intruded into their domain. Among the weapons he saw shafts of ski poles, old-fashioned backpack frames, even rifles, with the sharpened bloodstone jammed into the end of now useless barrels.
“What the hell is this?” Tate whispered, her pistol hanging forgotten beside her thigh.
“It’s the answer to why we’ve seen signs of civilization that clearly wasn’t the work of the mantics,” Jen said. “Let’s assume they might be friendly.”
“What if they plan to eat us?” Tate asked.
“There’s too many of them to fight,” Aston said. “Let me try to talk to them.” He stepped slightly forward of the two women, then immediately stopped when the crowd of pale folk bristled, brandishing their weapons. “Okay, okay!” He raised his hands, palms out, tried to force a smile, though he felt nothing but fear. And a mild sense of wonder. Perhaps he needed to focus on that. He pointed at his chest. “I’m Sam Aston.” They tilted their heads at his words, clearly more curious than aggressive at this point. He tried again, tapped his chest. “Aston.”
One of the creatures lowered its spear and pointed to itself. “An-na-ki,” it said, in a high, breathy voice. Immediately many others became animated, started chattering in a series of rapid clicks and chirps interspersed with vaguely recognizable syllables of speech more akin to known language. Regardless, it was all far too fast and garbled for Aston to follow. The one who had spoken rounded on the others, its voice sharp, angry. They settled slightly and it turned back to Aston, gestured to itself again and made the same sounds. “An-na-ki.”
Aston pointed toward it. “You’re Annaki?”
The creature pointed to itself, then the two either side of it. “Annaki. Annaki.” It gestured to take in the crowd of gathered pale folk. “Annaki.”
“They’re all Annaki,” Jen said. “They have a collective name for themselves.”
“It’s a start,” Aston said. He smiled at the one who had spoken and gave a small bow. “Annaki,” he said. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”
The group chattered rapidly again, their tensions easing.
Aston pointed to himself again, said, “Aston.” He gestured to the others. “Galicia. Tate.”
The first creature bobbed excitedly. “Annaki-Akan!” it said, pointing to itself. It gestured left. “Annaki-Innka.” Then to the right. “Annaki-Oto.”
Aston grinned. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Hello, Akan!”
The creature gave a throaty cough that might have been a laugh. It pointed to its mouth and made chewing motions with its small, pale teeth.
“It’s offering us food,” Jen said.
“Hell, no.” Tate’s brows creased in a frown. “I ain’t eating anything from this crazy place.”
“They must live on something,” Aston said. “If it’s glowing green, we don’t eat it, though.” He nodded to Akan. “Okay.”
There was clearly still some dissension among the population, but on the whole the Annaki seemed to have relaxed. Aston and his friends were led to one of the larger dwellings and guided inside. He wondered how they remained safe from the mantics. Were they in league with the creatures? Or did they have better defenses? This cavern, like so many others, had webs of glowing vines crawling from fissures in the walls and ceiling, the enormous place lit in the gentle green glow they had become used to. Deposits of greenium glittered here and there, the dark curling ferns growing in fissures all around the walls and floor. But the mantics could clearly grow used to the brightness in time, as the recent attack had proven. They had hardly rested at all before they were overrun. And that cavern had been no different to this one, only perhaps it was a little smaller. Had the Annaki relocated to a bigger home cave? Regardless, they seemed to exist here quite comfortably, so they obviously had some way of controlling or holding back the mantics. He realized every weapon, from spears to knives to sword-like machetes, had been made of the strange rock Murray Lee had dubbed bloodstone. Was that the answer? If so, what was it about bloodstone that did more damage than bullets? And where did they get it?
He and his friends were led to a smooth rock being used as a table. On it were piles of mushroom-like fungi, pale and smooth, and dried out cockroach-like bugs. Neither had the bright green glow of the vines or the fish they had seen. Annaki-Akan pointed to the food, then his mouth. Aston’s reluctance must have been clear on his face, for Akan moved forward, took one bug and a pinch of fungus and ate both together with relish. He nodded, stepped back, gestured again.
“I am starving,” Jen said. “And still weak as a baby.”
“We’ll need energy,” Aston agreed. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Holy hell,” Tate said. “I feel like that chick from the Indiana Jones movie. The one they tried to feed eyeball soup.”
Aston managed a grin.”
The three of them took some of the fungus and tentatively ate it. Aston found it dry, dusty, spongy in texture with a subtle savory flavor, but it wasn’t too unpleasant. He tried a little more. “It’s okay,” he said.
Tate and Jen both chewed, faces twisted in mild concern. Or perhaps disgust.
“Well, in for a quarter, in for a buck,” Aston said, and threw one of the dried bugs into his mouth. It was crunchy and rich, with a nutty taste that he found strong and slightly unnerving. After a few chews he grew used to it. “Actually not bad,” he said with a smile.
Jen and Tate gave identical shrugs and the three of them ate their fill of small mushrooms and beetles. Some of the Annaki joined them, clearly some hierarchy at play where a handful of the pale creatures ate while the rest filed out and went about their business.
Aston hadn’t realized how hungry he was and felt strength and clarity of thought return as he ate. He didn’t like to guess at the actual nutritional value of the stuff. Looking at the Annaki, he didn’t fancy living on a diet of it for long, but in the short term, it was a valuable feed.
As they had their fill, Aston tried to communicate again. “We need to find our friends,” he said.
Akan looked quizzical, tipped its head.
“Our friends,” Aston said. He pointed to himself, then Tate, then Jen, then pointed to three fingers on his left hand. He did it again, then held up the last two fingers of that hand, pointed to them and shrugged. Akan was clearly confused. He repeated the gestures, then swept his arm around to encompass the cavern they were in and beyond. “We have two more friends,” he said, despairing and frustrated. “We need to find them.”
“I don’t think he gets it, man,” Tate said. “I say we let them take their chances and convince these guys to show us the way out. They must know one, right?”
“No way!” Aston said. “I’m not leaving Jo down here. And Syed was with her.”
“They’re probably dead already. If not, they probably will be soon.”
“We can’t know that,” Jen said. “And we can’t just give up on them. We have to try to find them.”
Tate laughed, but it had little humor in it. “Do we have to? Really? I’m thinking all I have to do is get the hell out of here.”
“You’re not a bad person, Ronda,” Aston said. “You really going to be selfish now? We can ask these guys to help us find Slater and Syed, and then show us all the way out. They’ve survived for who knows how long down here, so they can obviously avoid the mantics. We’ll be safe with them if we befriend them.”
Tate pursed her lips, shook her head. After a moment, she looked down, but said no more. Aston had to hope she’d stick with them. He turned his attention back to Akan. “Our friends.” He stopped, thinking. Then he pulled the bloodstone dagger from his jacket. Akan made positive noises, pointed to the weapon and moved his arms like mantic mandibles. “These work against the mantics?” Aston asked.
Akan tilted his head, confused again. Aston shook it off. He needed to focus. He used the point of the dagger to scratch crude drawings in the loose grit of the cave floor. He made five stick figures. He pointed to the first, then at himself, and said, “Me. Aston.” Then he pointed at the next one and then to Tate. Then to the third one, then to Jen. Akan frowned, then nodded. It pointed to the other two stick figures and looked around.
“Yes, exactly!” Aston said. He gestured widely once more. “Where? Where are our two friends?”
Akan paused, seemingly in thought. Then it took out a bloodstone dagger of its own and sketched a rough map in the dirt. He marked several passages, then drew a huge circle. He added ripple marks, making the circle look like a body of water. He tapped at it, as if to say ‘Try here’.
When the other Annaki who had remained with them realized what Akan had drawn, they set up a clamor, jabbering and clicking. Akan argued back. The conversation grew heated, adversarial.
“They sure don’t like his suggestion,” Aston said to Tate and Jen.
Akan argued some more, then barked a couple of short, sharp phrases. He seemed to have some authority and the others reluctantly quieted down. Akan stood and motioned for Aston to follow.
He saw it was trembling, nervous even in its conviction. “We’ll come with you,” he said, hurrying Tate and Jen along. But he wondered if it was a mistake.
Akan and two other Annaki led the way, the two clearly reluctant but doing as they were told. None of them seemed happy.
“Where is it taking us, do you think?” Tate asked.
“I don’t know,” Aston said. “But wherever it is, I think this little guy is scared shitless of what’s waiting there.”