brightly, but still it feels like being in a different world. It’s not entirely unpleasant. “Looks like you will. I think the greatest danger is if we fall.”
Brank’ox squeezes through the crack and walks a few feet past me. “Then let’s not do that.”
This is a deck of some kind, firm and feeling pretty solid. To our left is the badly collapsed part, where I will not be going. There is no sign of life. Not even the extremely vital and energetic plant life on Xren has tried to gain a foothold in these alien surroundings. There are small puddles of old rainwater here and there. Below us is an insanely intricate latticework of beams and girders stretching way down into the dark depths where the sunlight doesn’t reach.
I point down. “Do you see that? All the way down there?”
Brank’ox squints. “A reflection.”
It’s a white light, shining steadily, like a lone star down in the deep shadows.
“Probably,” I agree. “But maybe we should find out for sure?”
He frowns at me. “You mean climb down?”
“It should be possible. Look how dense it is down there. I mean, all the… things. The branches.” I have no idea what ‘girder’ and ‘beam’ would be in cavemanese. “Just like climbing a dense tree. Except climbing down. Much easier!”
So, I was never usually that brave. But with Brank’ox nearby, I feel invincible. Maybe the not-tequila still has some effect, although I don’t feel drunk anymore. And for some reason, I really want to get to the bottom of this alien ship. I’ve been cooped up in our village for months and months, never daring to venture into the jungle. Now I’m here, I want to make the most of it. And if there is something down there, something cool, then I will be bringing back both rubber and guano and that alien thing. Or information or whatever. It would be a great success. The surprisingly positive way the girls received my soap kind of fired me up and made me want to do more good things for the tribe.
Even so, that light is very deep down there, and I’m half hoping Brank’ox will put his foot down.
“I am entrusted with your safety,” he rumbles. “This does not look safe.”
“Then you can climb first. If I fall, I’ll land on top of you.”
“I’m not convinced that’s better. Is it important to go down there?”
“I don’t know. It could be. It depends on what we find.”
Another one of those deep, resigned sighs that a rational male gives off when in the presence of female craziness that he sees no way to fight.
“Then let’s get down there while the sun is up.”
I touch his forearm and look up at him. “Thank you. We’ll be careful.”
He returns my smile with a little ripple of his lips. “If I fall to my death, tell Chief Brax’tan ‘I told you so’ from me.”
Ah. Because I’m not the only one who’s in danger here. Brank’ox is, too. For some reason, that hadn’t quite penetrated my selfish brain.
I draw breath to say I’ve changed my mind, but at the same time Brank’ox places his backpack on the floor and jumps down to a thick, square beam three feet below us.
We’re now almost eye to eye.
“Leave your backpack,” he commands. “It can only weigh you down and ruin your balance.”
“Okay.” I slide the pack off me and drop down to the same level as Brank’ox.
Then we spend a half hour making our way down into the shadows. The alien construction is so dense that there’s no great danger of falling at all. There’s always a conveniently placed girder or strut or flange, and most of the time the drop is only about a foot or so. We just have to be careful to not hit our heads on something above us. It feels almost like an alien jungle gym.
We’re standing on another deck, a level floor the size of a living room. Beneath us is a structure about as big as an office building, even more intricate-looking than the chaos of alien metal we’re in. There are pipes and wires and strange shapes, and it continues all the way to the edge of the ship’s foundations. I think I can spot something that looks like the safe end of a rocket nozzle.
“I wonder if those are the engines,” I ponder out loud. “The things that made the old spaceship fly.”
“Ensins,” Brank’ox repeats the alien-to-him word. “Yes. Look just like ensins.”