“Nnn-neee.”
“Yes,” Minnie sent via Livetrans, hoping no one would notice the difference in voices or the fact that her mouth didn’t move.
“Greater you? Lesser you?”
Did he think she was Hynka? Minnie also noticed the sudden lack of unknown DB hits in his speech. Coincidence, or had he adopted whatever dialect she’d spoken? So how to answer? She couldn’t tell their breed in this light, and all covered in riverbear furs. Was there a right answer?
She decided.
Her PA spoke the reply. “Greater no. Lesser no.” And then she said aloud, “Hooman.”
“Hoonan,” Fitchsher repeated. “Hooonan.”
Minnie returned the question. “Greater you? Lesser you?”
“Lesser Fitchsher,” Fitchsher replied without hesitation, then gestured to his comrades. “Lesser Onjr. Greater Leeg. Two Lesser. One Greater.”
“Two Greater,” Leeg moaned. “Baby Greater.”
Both Fitchsher and Onjr appeared troubled by Leeg’s statement, their eyes rolling about, tongues moving in their mouths. Minnie had seen in Ish’s game that Greaters could birth Lessers, and vice-versa, but hadn’t realized the two breeds actually interbred. She’d thought of it like a black dog giving birth to both black and golden puppies.
After several moments dominated by Leeg’s wheezing, Fitchsher stared at the heater for a time, then broke the silence. “Fire in?”
Minnie knew no better way to explain the device. “Yes.” Mindful of an even exchange, she decided she could now ask another question. She wished to know why they’d traveled so incredibly far from a village, but was skeptical of Livetrans’ simplification, unsure if her meaning would be grasped, “Fitchsher far. Village far.”
“No kill,” Fitchsher replied, and Onjr echoed a second later.
“No kill.”
Reasonable. They didn’t want the two Lessers of the group to die. But they could’ve settled 1,500K south of here, and remained safe—probably safer, given environmental concerns.
“Cold kill,” Minnie continued. “Hot there.” She pointed south.
“Yes,” Fitchsher agreed, and Minnie noted the vague body language of an affirmative: a subtle shoulder dip, elbows moved outward ever so slightly. “Greaters there. Greaters come.”
They were being followed? Were more Hynka on their way? And why weren’t the two males concerned about the Greater among them?
“Greaters come here?” Minnie asked.
Leeg piped in again, a single word between each labored huff. “Greaters… no… stop.”
Minnie emulated the affirmative gesture. Apparently, Leeg was as worried about Greaters as her friends, and all three believed Hynka would never stop spreading, so they’d continue heading north. Forever, it seemed. She wondered if they realized that their unwavering drive for survival was leading them to certain death. Then again, they seemed to be doing okay so far.
Onjr twisted and reached behind him, hand returning with a drape of solidified meat, sheets and dots of frozen blood flaking off. Minnie’s eyes conjured a skinned human, and Ish’s mangled body flashed in her head. Onjr tore off a small piece, exposing what looked like a scapula or pelvic bone. He hunched over and placed the portion before Leeg’s mouth, wedging it in as if force-feeding her. She opened a crack, displaying a live reminder of all those teeth, but quickly hissed and spat a series of unknown words mixed with others.
“…hard… no… bad.”
Onjr took the piece back and slipped it under his armpit.
“Onjr,” Minnie said, and pointed to the metal disc beneath the heater. Onjr appeared startled to hear his name again. “Hot here.”
Fitchsher agreed, “Yes. Put.”
Onjr snorted and threw the hunk in front of the heater. Perhaps a little too close, it sizzled and steamed. She didn’t know how they’d feel about cooked meat, but it smelled damn good.
“Grarlar?” Minnie asked. Fitchsher and Onjr stared at her. She pointed at the meat. “Grarlar?”
Fitchsher pointed a thumb toward the thawing hunk. “Food.”
Minnie gestured to the riverbear skin on his nearest shoulder. “Call this?”
Fitchsher crooked his neck to it, then pinched the edge of the fur. “Possyr.”
It was a word one of them had earlier spoken, Minnie had thought in reference to her. Did it mean fur? Protection? Their term for riverbear? The DB had no similar entries.
Onjr leaned forward and slid the smoking meat away from the heater.
Minnie pointed at the slab again. “Possyr?”
Fitchsher looked at the hunk as it steamed atop the frost, cooling. “Yes possyr. Onjr kill. No possyr. Food.”
Minnie felt the same warm rush of adrenalin that always hit her when working linguistics. Each new word was a mystery to be solved, and each word defined was a clue toward the next, and all the pieces together would solve the puzzle entire. This meat was a possyr before it was killed, but no longer. The fur was still a possyr, so it couldn’t mean living or alive. Perhaps a generic noun.
Process of elimination. She touched her own chest. “Minnie possyr?”
After a pause and glance to Onjr, who was again trying to feed Leeg, Fitchsher confirmed. “Yes.”
And with that, Minnie decided to ask her most pressing question. “Kill Minnie?”
Even Leeg went quiet.
Fitchsher stared at Minnie with eyes that appeared to have a million more thoughts than his limited vocabulary could express.
With still no answer, she persisted. “Kill Minnie? Minnie food?”
Fitchsher opened his mouth to speak, then closed it as if to rethink.
Onjr’s head appeared from behind Leeg’s back. “Nnn-neee scent food taste.”
He talking about the half-cooked meat or saying that I smell delicious?
Fitchsher spun round, flinging an arm toward Onjr, snarling, “No!” followed by a string of unknown words. Onjr returned, popping to his feet, and stepped toward Fitchsher, throwing an open hand to Fitchsher’s face. Onjr’s foot accidentally nudged the metal lid and the heater toppled onto its side. Minnie grabbed the MW from her lap and scurried to her feet, backing away from the commotion. The two wrestled around, arguing and slapping each other over the quietly moaning Leeg. Onjr had the size advantage, but Fitchsher appeared faster.
Standing beyond the bulbs, Minnie’s legs remained primed to bolt. What seemed apparent was that Onjr considered her food, and Fitchsher was defending her. In the bustle, the heater was kicked again, rolling and skidding away with steaming footprints. When it came to rest, it hissed and whistled, slowly sinking into the frost. Water at its perimeter began boiling and Minnie wondered if it would soon submerge itself and short out.
Onjr was on top of Fitchsher, one leg pinning his face to the ground, a knee on a thigh, fingers clutching and twisting the loose skin beneath Fitchsher’s arm. Fitchsher screeched and yapped.
Minnie darted to the heater, grabbed the handle, and set it upright away from the shallow new rectangle pool. Keeping an eye on the brawl, she shut it off and dashed back to a safe distance.
“Stop!” Fitchsher cried from under Onjr. “Onjr win!”
That can’t be good.
Onjr stood up, gave Fitchsher a little kick to the head, and peered round the area. His eyes found Minnie. She gripped the MW, raising it higher. Onjr took a step toward her, then looked around at the ground.
“Cold,” Leeg whimpered.
Onjr stomped forward and Minnie prepared to fire, but he was heading to the heater. He huddled over it, crushed two nubby claws into each side, and took it back to Leeg. He plopped down and set two fingers in front of the heater as Fitchsher strained to sit up, rubbing his side and head.