Dwantum Zer

Three thousand habitable planets in the known universe, and I’m stuck on the only one without intelligent life.  I let out an exasperated sigh as I sat down on a rock.  I had been walking around for what seemed like four hours, trying to figure out just where I was, why my head hurt, and why I was covered in cuts and bruises.  Most of the cuts were just tiny scrapes, but one was more of a small gash.  I had managed to bandage the gash with a scrap off of my shirt and it wasn’t bleeding too badly.

So far all that I had seen was a lot of strange trees and plants and a few unfamiliar looking insects and reptilian looking creatures.  Somewhere between wracking my brain on how I had gotten here and passing what I swear was the same twisted tree for the third time, I had gotten lost.  Imagine that.  My eyes began to tear up but I quickly blinked them away.  I would not cry, it was growing dark and I had to find some shelter. 

I glanced over my shoulder at the creature that had been following me for at least the last half hour.  It sat in a low tree limb, halfway hidden in the leaves.  The creature’s large, sad eyes were so very green that they almost glowed in the fading light.  From the quick glimpses I had caught of it, it appeared to be covered in indigo blue scales and its body had a lanky build.  The creature’s long arms and legs were perfect for climbing trees.  It somewhat resembled a monkey from earth and it had long retractable claws.  The claws looked razor sharp and while it seemed like a curious creature rather than a dangerous predator, I was still going to keep an eye on it none-the-less.  After all, a girl couldn’t be too careful on a strange planet.

I went back to scanning my surroundings, nothing about this forest I was in looked familiar.  Then again I had never been to another planet other than earth before, so why would it?  My eyes fell on the twisted tree that I had passed by so many times.  The ground had eroded from under its exposed roots and it looked like a small cave.  There was a gap in the roots that formed an entrance just barely big enough for me to fit through.  I walked over to the tree and peered inside.  It was too dark out for me to really be able to see much, but it resembled a creature’s den.  While it didn’t appear to be currently inhabited, I really did not want to share a cramped hole with some unknown creature when it decided to come home.  I also did not want to spend the night out in the open. 

An animal’s guttural scream reverberated through the forest and in an instant my mind was made up.  I dove into the tree cave’s entrance and landed in the center of it with a thump.  I was a little surprised at the size of the inside.  While it wasn’t tall enough for me to stand up, nor wide enough for me to lie stretched out, I could sit comfortably in its center.  It was pitch black in there and I didn’t like not being able to see anything.  I didn’t get that creepy feeling of “somebody’s watching you”, but just to be safe I poked my foot about the ground.  My probing search came up empty and I was satisfied with that.  I had to be; I couldn’t just sit here and obsess about unseen creatures in a dark hole, which were going to gnaw on me while I slept.  Okay.  Now that I thought about it that way I guess I could, but I wouldn’t, I decided resolutely. 

I leaned my back up against the wall of tree cave and allowed my eyes to close.  I was tired.  Wandering around a strange planet for hours had a way of doing that to a person.  However, there was absolutely no way I would be sleeping tonight, no way at all.

I awoke, curled up on my side, my whole body stiff and aching from sleeping on the hard ground.  Sunlight was just barely peeking in through the entrance of the tree cave and the small gaps in the roots that formed its walls.  Even though it was early morning, the heat of the day was already becoming apparent.  I was starting to sweat and decided it was time to get out of the cave. 

Just as I began to sit up I felt something move against my back.  I froze.  Then I carefully, slowly, twisted my head around and peered over my shoulder.  I saw… nothing?  Confused, I turned my head back forward and came face to face with a set of large glowing green eyes.  I let out a surprised yelp and the indigo creature from last night shrieked in return, revealing a small set of needle-like teeth.  The creature and I stared at each other for almost a full minute before the creature abruptly jerked its head to face the entrance of the tree cave.  Its funnel ears began to twitch as if they were picking up a noise that I could not hear and then it hastily scurried behind my back. 

The creature’s actions caused alarms to go off in my head and as I watched the entrance, fear began to build inside of me.  Then I heard it, soft footsteps approaching the tree.  A shadow fell over the entrance of the tree cave and a masculine voice called, “Gwerbo?”  There was a pause and then the voice called out again, “Zwerf?” 

The words that voice spoke were unfamiliar sounding but I didn’t want whoever it was to leave so I shouted, “Hello?” 

The response I got back was just more gibberish, “Gwerbo? Zweltz tu feir?”  I crawled closer to the entrance and looked up at the face that was looking down at me. 

“Hi, uh, I don’t understand?”  I said as I shook my head.  By the puzzled look on his face, he clearly didn’t either.  Then he extended a hand down through the entrance in an offer of help.  I reached my hand up to his and allowed him to pull me out.  He helped me to my feet and then just stood and starred at me.  He was tall, which was saying something since I was five foot six.  He had to have been almost seven foot, his skin was pale green, and his build was lean yet muscular.  His anatomy was not very different from that of a human’s, apart from the second set of arms that sat just below the first.  He wore tan lightweight pants, slipper-like shoes, and had a pack slung over his shoulder.  His eyes were a vivid shade of orange and they studied me with a perplexed look. 

I started to feel a bit self conscious of my appearance as he continued to stare at me.  I knew that I was slightly disheveled looking, with all the scrapes, bruises, and dirt that covered me, but I didn’t look that bad.  Did I?  I gave him a small smile, which seemed to have no effect because he just continued to stare.  I heard movement behind me and then the creature appeared beside my right leg.  The man frowned when he saw the creature and then said harshly, “Gwe der Zwerf!”  The creature wrapped its long arms around my leg and hid its face.  “Gwe der Zwerf!” the man roared.  The creature hissed at the man and then looked up at me with those sad eyes.  It reached its arms up to me just like a child that wanted to be held.  My heart melted and without a moment’s hesitation I reached down and scooped the creature up in my arms.  Its scales were surprisingly smooth, not at all scratchy or rough like they appeared to be.  When I looked up from the creature I had to stifle a gasp.  The man was livid, red starbursts burned in his orange eyes.  “What are you doing with my twerto?” he growled in perfect English and began walking towards me. 

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened.  “I… I…” I stammered as I retreated backwards. 

“Well out with it!” he demanded as he continued towards me.  As I took another step backwards I tripped and hit the ground hard, landing right on my butt.  The creature made a protesting cry when we fell and clung tighter to me.  The fall really hadn’t hurt too much; it had just been very jarring.  However, tears welled up in my eyes as I looked up at the man in all his rage and fiery eyes.  I didn’t even bother to try to stop them as they slowly slid down my face. 

“I’m sorry, it found me, and I didn’t know that it was yours.  I’m lost.  I don’t know where I am, or how I even got here.”  As I spoke I watched the red begin to melt away from his orange eyes. 

Even though most of his anger seemed to have gone, the tone in his voice was still very harsh when he said, “Stop crying.  You’re in the forest of Swar, on the planet of Dwantum Zer.  Why are you here?” 

Once I had managed to stop the tears I answered him with, “I already told you!  I don’t know why I am here or how I got here.  All I know is that yesterday I woke up in this strange forest on a strange planet with a nice bump on my head and cuts and bruises all over my body.  I don’t even remember leaving earth.” 

The man frowned and then for the second time that morning he extended his hand down to me.  Before I could accept his hand however, the creature hissed and snapped at him.  The man withdrew his hand quickly and left me to try to stand on my own.  The creature refused to be set down, which made my task all the more difficult. 

“He doesn’t seem to like you very much”, I said after I had managed to hoist myself up. 

“He likes me just fine, he is merely protecting you”, he replied bluntly.  “Well we should get moving,” he announced, “the nearest town is about three days journey from here.  Maybe we will find some answers for you there.”  He began to walk away from me and I hurried to catch up. 

I struggled to keep pace with the man and said, “My name is Zoe, what’s yours?” 

The man was silent and for a minute I didn’t think that he was going to respond.  “Veniforis.” 

I continued walking alongside the man and then asked, “Why are you out here?” 

He responded a little quicker this time.  “I was hunting when that stupid creature that you’re holding decided to wander off and get lost.  I have been trying to find him since midday yesterday.”  Veniforis did not look at me as he spoke; he simply kept his gaze ahead of him. 

The creature in my arms began to squirm so I set him down on the ground.  As I watched the creature amble forward ahead of me, I asked the man, “What is it?  Does it have a name?” 

“His name is Zwerf, he is a Twerto.”  Veniforis pulled ahead of me and Zwerf to lead the way.  It was clear that he was done talking so I stopped asking questions and tried to concentrate on just following him.  My thoughts wondered to the man’s name, Veniforis.  It was a pleasant sounding name.  I debated whether he would let me call him Venie for short.  A smile spread across my face at the absurdity of the thought.  Then as if he knew what I was thinking, Veniforis looked back at me over his shoulder with a stern, disapproving look on his face.  My smile immediately melted away.

We kept walking until it was almost dark.  All the muscles in my body ached and I was relieved when Veniforis finally decided to stop for the night.  He sat down on a spot of mossy ground, pulled his pack from his shoulder and began rummaging through it.  There was a stream nearby and I had my mind set on getting myself slightly clean and trying to go to sleep.  Well, maybe eating something too.  I was starving, who knew how long it had been since I had eaten something.  I sure didn’t.

When I voiced my plan to go to the stream, Veniforis’ only reply was a grunt.  So Zwerf and I went to the stream and I began the tedious task of washing as much grime off me as possible.  Of course things might have gone a little quicker if I hadn’t been goofing around and splashing the water at Zwerf.  The twerto very child-like and the delighted shrieks it made when it splashed me back made me laugh wholeheartedly. Veniforis’ dislike of Zwerf and I’s fun was clearly apparent due to the muffled grumbling and mumbling that I could hear coming from the distance. 

As I washed myself up, I took time to look at the gash on my thigh.  It was a little red around the edges.  I had hoped that it wouldn’t get infected, but it appeared that it had.  It didn’t look that bad though, so I should be fine.  I wondered if I should ask Veniforis his opinion, but I didn’t really want to bother him so I decided against it.  Once I had gotten as clean as possible I headed back to Veniforis.  He didn’t bother to look up at me until I had sat down near him and even then it was only to hand me a piece of some kind of bread.  He didn’t speak to me the rest of the night either.  That is as long as you don’t consider the grunt he made after I thanked him for helping me as speaking.  When I laid down on the moss I found sleep yet again even when I had felt so certain that I wouldn’t.

The next day was worse than the last.  I felt so tired and weak.  The gash in my thigh felt like it was on fire and had started to seep.  As the day wore on and the sun had reached its highest point in the sky, I began to feel extremely hot and dizzy.  I had to stop and lean against a tree in an attempt to keep my balance and stop my head from spinning.  Veniforis turned around when he realized that I was no longer following him.  He gave me an impatient look and began to walk toward me. 

“I just need a minute,” I said in almost a whisper.  I wondered if now would be a good time to tell him about the gash in my leg.  Suddenly the tree seemed to fall away from me, or maybe it was me that fell away from the tree.  My vision blurred and I waited to hit the ground.  However, the ground never came.  The last thing that I felt before everything went black was the strong arms that caught me.

Blurry images and distorted sounds filtered in randomly through the blackness that had overtaken me.  I saw a figure wiping the sweat from my brow.  Another time the figure was dressing my leg wound.  I heard words of comfort and caring in a language that I did not understand.  I felt gentle arms holding me and carrying me.  However, I could not seem to keep hold of these images or sounds.  The blackness always came too soon and dragged me back into its depths. 

Just when I thought that I would never fully regain consciousness, I opened my eyes and I could see everything around me clearly.  I looked at the window just across from the bed that I lay in and saw that the sun was beginning to rise.  I smiled.  While I wasn’t sure what had been real and what had been fever dreams, I was certain that I was beginning to get my memory back.  I remembered getting on a plane that was going to the planet Palamitein. 

I looked to my left at Veniforis asleep in a chair.  Zwerf was curled up in his lap and the image the two made was absolutely adorable.  Of course I would never tell Veniforis that.  Then an odd thought ran through my head.  Maybe there is intelligent life on this planet after all.







I originally wrote this story for The First Line, it didn’t make the cut and I know that it needs work so any comments or input would be greatly appreciated.