At least that’s what Foster’s interpretation was as Norauk spent most of the previous night and the early hours of the morning bringing her and her team up to speed. An act Foster wished he had saved for later her body needed sleep, sleep that was denied due to Norauk’s storytelling. The heat and white sun light didn’t help as the sun stayed in the skies long after they retired. Air-conditioning clearly didn’t exist with such a low-tech civilization and the barriers, as strong as they were, didn’t filter out all of the heat and light that baked the surface. According to her and Pierce’s EAD scans, the estimated day length on the planet, based on how slowly the sun moved through the skies, was approximately seventy hours.
She rolled out of the bed amongst the dry heat and looked at her EVA suit that rested on the floor and then at the clothes she was wearing, glad that she chose to bend the rules and not wear her IESA uniform. She peeked out the window and partly shielded her eyes from the brutal light above and looked at the Poniga people below as they went about their day, speaking a language none of her team understood.
Her gazing on, and observation of, the alien society came to an end as the wooden door to her room slid open, Norauk had arrived, his tails wagging on seeing Foster up and about. “Howdy, just the person I wanted to see,” she said to him.
“Oh? You want to buy something, yes, yes?”
“We need directions to the edge of the barrier we talked about.”
“Oh,” he replied with disappointment. “You wish to leave?”
“Like I said last night we’s passin’ through. Just wanna contact our ship—” Shit. You weren’t supposed to mention a ship Rebecca!
“A ship? You are from the stars then?”
Foster stepped away from the window and its searing light and debated if she should get on with it and spill the whole truth. After a slight pause she revealed a frown that appeared on her face. “We ain’t from these parts.”
“A ship, this is good.” Norauk rubbed his hands together, Foster began to wonder if he was planning something else, or was in a dire need of some hand lotion. “My people are known as the Qirak, we too are from the stars!”
Norauk’s reveal wasn’t exactly surprising per se. It was clear that there was no intelligent life on the planet that evolved naturally. The Poniga came from elsewhere and so Norauk’s people, the Qirak, must have come from another world as well.
“Is that so? How’d you get here?”
“We are traders, we travel the stars seeking fine wares and profit. We saw great opportunities here and brokered a deal with the Architect.”
“The Architect,” she mumbled to herself. She remembered him tossing that name out, but never did get around to asking follow-up questions. “Who is that?”
Norauk stepped in front of the window unaffected by the intense heat and light. Following behind, Foster saw him point down below into a courtyard where a bronze display took center stage. It looked like four spikes coming out from the ground forming almost a ‘W’ shape as they crossed with each other.
“That is the mark of the Architect,” Norauk said pointing to the sculpture. “People here consider him to be a deity. But me? He’s just a business partner.”
The Architect is a business partner, a ‘he’ at that. Must be some sort of advanced alien living in this region of space. Foster thanked Norauk for his time and gathered the rest of her team from their adjacent rooms, and out into the halls. She gave them the rundown on the situation and the game plan for them to leave and travel to the edge of the barrier.
Norauk chimed in during their talk. “You wish to travel beyond the barrier? It is dangerous there; you will not live long enough to contact your ship.”
“What do you think, Pierce?” Foster asked.
Pierce eyed the three Hammerhead personnel and their combat armor. “Combat armor with max shields should last a few minutes outside of the barrier before bad things happen.”
Foster nodded then addressed McDowell. “Commander?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the sound of voluntold.”
“One of us should stay,” Pierce said. “There is still much to learn about these people and this Architect.”
Foster concurred. “I’ll stay, Dr. Pierce, you head out with them.”
His jaw dropped, and he began to protest. “Captain! You can’t be serious?”
“I got a feelin’ this planet and possibly this city is the center for all activity in the system,” Foster said. “If we’s gonna live here in this system then we best iron out a deal and make sure we ain’t building homes in someone’s backyard.”
“Ah, you wish to meet the Architect then? Yes, yes?” Norauk said.
“If he’s in charge, yeah.”
“I can have my wife arrange a meeting,” Norauk said. “But . . . payment.” Foster rolled her eyes, she had a feeling there was a catch coming sooner rather than later. “I take your friends to the barrier limit and arrange for you to meet the Architect. Two jobs, two payments yes, yes?”
“We ain’t from here remember? We ain’t gots your currency.”
“What do your people use?”
“Credit chits, and I’m pretty sure I left mine in my quarters.”
“Gems perhaps?” Foster shook her head no. “Jewels? Gold?”
“None of that sorry, mister.”
“Something from your ship perhaps? Technology is not common here unless it came from the Architect, or underground in which case it’s given to the Architect as tribute.”
Architect has high tech, good to know. “What about your people?”
“Ah, that’s a long story.”
“Tell ya what.” Foster showed Norauk her EAD. “There’s more of these, perhaps you want a few?”
“A scanning tool, very useful,” Norauk said looking at her EAD up and down. “Yes, yes this will do.”
It was a deal. Foster faced her team, all of them looked ready to embark, except Pierce. But that was OK, he’d be best for the job with his knowledge of science should they run into issues. And best part of all? No local laws get broken, Pierce, Kingston, and McDowell won’t be forced into marriage. “Well then, y’all ready to head out?”
“MC, stay with the Captain,” McDowell said to Chevallier.
Foster didn’t object, having an extra body to watch her back helped put her mind at ease while she prepared herself mentally to speak with this mythical Architect person. Norauk, McDowell, and Kingston left the city with Pierce dragging his feet like a moody child on his way to school. Prior to Norauk leaving he gave Foster the location where she could find his wife, who was out in the markets in the western edge of the city.
Foster and Chevallier took to the city streets and casually strolled through, trying their best to keep to the shadows the taller buildings cast. She had concerns about what the bright light from the skies was slowly doing to her vision. A full eye examination upon returning to the Carl Sagan was in order.
They turned the corner and arrived at a crowded marketplace. Some of the Poniga people were bartering with other members of Norauk’s race, while another large crowd was huddled around . . . something. Foster couldn’t see what had gripped the crowd’s attention, the blinding sunlight being the sole reason for that. They arrived at a kiosk where a solo Qirak female fitting the description of Norauk’s wife exchanged gold and jewels for . . . people?
Every Poniga that arrived at her kiosk dragged a small group of chained Poniga with them, made their exchange with her, then pushed the small chained-up group beyond the gathering crowd. Slave trading was the first thing that came to Foster’s mind, but Norauk mentioned nothing of that happening in this society.
It was Foster and Chevallier’s turn to speak with her as the queue shrank. “You must be Norauk’s wife Yalauk, right?”