Page 62 of Caveman Alien's Heat
“A dragon is much worse than an irox,” I tell them. “For where the irox is stupid and angry, the dragon is cunning and mean, like a shaman with scales, fire, wings, and talons.”
We walk in silence toward the glacier with the saucer. The men study tracks as if they were on a hunt, and of course we could take down some Smalls if we see them. I have brought some items of my own that I bury in the snow when the others aren’t looking.
I see the saucer in the distance, just a spot of darker white that contrasts against the snow and ice around it. It’s still up on its edge.
Only a couple of these men were part of Prak’ox’s hunting party that found Riley and me, so most of them haven’t seen it.
“So itisreal,” one marvels, and he puts his hand on it. “I wasn’t sure what to believe.”
It looks much the same as before. The crevasse hasn’t cracked open, and the ice hasn’t melted around it.
“It’s not supposed to be like this,” I tell them. “It’s supposed to have this side down.” I slap the underside. “We must push it so itstands correctly on the ice. You and you, go to this side. No, keep your mittens on. You, stand here and push at this. You, here.” I organize the men so they can push at the saucer in the best way. It would be even better to push at the upper edge, but the men aren’t tall enough.
I take up position so that I can make my larger bulk as effective as possible. “When I say ‘now,’ push with all your might,” I instruct. Then I take a deep breath and put my shoulder at the saucer. “Now!”
The men push, and the ice creaks. There’s some movement in the saucer, but it slowly comes back. “Let it come back. Only push for a heartbeat when I say so. Then back.”
“Now!” I repeat as we all push, then “back!” as the saucer returns slowly, lazily, and we simply let it. “Now!” I say when it has reached its first position.
“Now! Back! Now! Back!”
Each time, the saucer goes further the way I want, but each time it comes back, also a little further. I don’t like that—it must land on the right side.
“Now! Back! Now!” We all push as hard as we can. For a moment, the saucer hesitates as if it intends to come back once more. Then there’s a hardcrackfrom the ice, and the saucer slowly drops down with the right side up, with a hollow sound that neither metal nor wood could make.
“Good work,” I praise the men. “Now we can see if?—”
My feet suddenly slip, and I fall backwards on the ice. A little trickle of cold water runs from under the saucer, making the ice slippery. I frown as I get back up. “What is this?”
A man yelps and yanks his hand away from the saucer. “It’s hot!”
I try with my own hand without quite touching it. Indeed, the saucer is heating up fast.
The men pull away and out of the water that’s pouring over the ice where it melts. “Is this what should happen?”
“It can happen,” I tell them truthfully, because it’s happening right now. “But this is what Riley and I wanted to avoid! Oh, why would the chief not let us bring her? The folly!”
They all step further back as the saucer slowly sinks into the ice. “Why does it do that?”
I step back, too. The saucer is clearly too hot to touch, and now it’s melting into the glacier. If that continues, it will be impossible to get inside it.
As we watch in silence, the saucer melts its way down until the top of it is below the surface of the ice. The meltwater rises quickly along the saucer as it descends, and soon it’s beneath the water’s surface as it keeps going, making a sucking sound on the way down.
My heart sinks in my chest. That saucer is our only chance to get away from this land of ice and snow. And now it’s sinking to the bottom of the glacier.
“It’s obviously trying to get away from all the strangers and outtribers that are surrounding it,” I growl. “If only Riley had been here! Then the saucer would have seen that all is well. Now it thinks that Riley is already gone to her Ancestors! Oh, the idiocy of the Gar tribe, and their chief, and their mindless council! Now it may be impossible to avoid the coming of thedragon!” I make it up on the spot, but I’m feeling too much despair to try to make it sound smarter.
“Is it alive, then?” a man asks as the saucer sinks further and further down. “If it can see things and escape?”
“Did it look like a tent to your eyes?” I snap. “A rock? A drift of snow? Of course it’s alive!”
I turn away. Things just got much more difficult and desperate. There are mountains in all directions, all far away, all looking black with snow on the peaks. Escape will be just about impossible.
I turn back to the big hole in the ice. “This has happened before. Another saucer got angry and vanished in the jungle. We found it later, in a clearing. Chief Korr’ax talked to it, for he knew it best. Softly and kindly, he whispered, explaining to the saucer why certain things had happened.”
The men all listen with great attention.
“After a short while,” I go on, “the saucer opened its hatch. Our chief stepped in, and the saucer flew again. The same must happen here! Riley must talk to it, for she knows it best.” I’m making this up, too. But it sounds to me like it could be true.
