Jarzen Tadel - Echoes of Destiny

By Robert Jacobi

Jarzen awakens aboard a crashed space ship; with no memory of who he is; or of what he is capable of doing. Jarzen is among four perfect specimens who are obviously from a different race; as they are all more than a galactic foot taller than Jarzen and twice his mass in stature.

Together, they set out on foot in a primitive world where bows, arrows, spears, swords, and hatchets are the weapons of the era.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9780990631828

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

LOST

The Valarian, Jarzen’s amazing new personal spaceship, came out of Geni fully cloaked, fifty-thousand standard galactic miles above the planet. Everyone’s worst fear had come to pass. Thromax was the next target. The six colossal emitters were settling into their final geosynchronous orbit positions, which would form an enormous circular teleportation portal in space. From this vantage point it became apparent how the transport of a planet was facilitated. Once activated, under its own power, the transporter portal would pass over Thromax in solar seconds and the planet would be instantly transported---but---to where?

Jarzen closed his eyes and concentrated; he increased the virtual density in standard galactic tons of weight of the Valarian by one thousand times. He opened his eyes and ordered the Valarian to attack the nearest emitter.

No sooner than Jarzen had given the order to attack; when the Valarian itself came under a massive attack. The force attacking Valarian, judging by the intensity of the attack, was a great many ships; how many was unknown, because these ships possessed a cloaking capability Elapsist technology could not detect. Jarzen concentrated on the Valarian’s sensor and thought about the needed upgrade to correct the sensor deficiency plus a weapon systems enhancement; then he thought to his subconscious mind, fill in the gaps and make it so.

His subconscious mind answered, don’t we always; then Jarzen heard an obviously excited Movious shout, We now have twelve targets; they just appeared on our sensors from out of nowhere.

Jarzen heard himself yell, open fire, fire at will and for the first time he heard the awesome fire power of the Valarian. They had fired off enough volleys to destroy one hundred federation ships when a vocally excited Varian said, We have destroyed one ship, no two, make that three, and the others are pulling back.

Varian asked Jarzen what he had done to the ship to counter the massive attack. Jarzen was in the process of telling him when Movious called out. This cannot be good. There is an uncloaked ship bearing down on us. It is without a doubt, the largest ship I have ever seen. Ship’s sensors tell me this ship is sixty standard galactic miles long, twenty standard galactic miles wide and ten standard galactic miles high. It weighs over ten billion standard galactic tons and it is picking up speed as it closes on us. I do not believe it intends to stop.

Jarzen shouted, On screen, and the entire screen was filled by the charging ship. Jarzen placed his hands on the battle desk, closed his eyes, concentrated, and in the blink of an eye, Jarzen moved the Valarian one hundred thousand standard galactic miles.

Movious’ well done, caused Jarzen to open his eyes; he took a deep breath and ordered the Valarian back into the battle.

The Valarian came out of Geni with all guns blazing on the nearest transporter portal emitter; they were now on the opposite side of the planet from where the huge ship had tried to run them down. The heavily shielded emitter returned fire in an unbelievable barrage. It quickly became apparent, the Valarian could not damage the emitter; it also appeared that the emitter could not damage the Valarian.

As Jarzen formulated the next phase of his attack plan, there was a tremendous jolt, and the Valarian was listing at a steep angle towards her right-side. All power was out throughout the ship.

While uninjured, Jarzen was sprawled in darkness against the far bulkhead of the command deck. He called out, and received no answer. He reached out with his mind, to the amnet, but he still received no answer. Jarzen was just beginning to become concerned when his subconscious mind emerged in his conscious mind; we are here. The giant ship has unleashed an unknown energy based weapon upon us. The enemy ship has turned away; it will be necessary for you to re-energize the Valarian and the AM-Us.

Jarzen half crawled, half dragged himself to the battle desk. He pulled himself to his feet, put his hands on the battle desk, he closed his eyes again and concentrated. His intention was to simultaneously re-energize the ship and all of the AM-Us on board. As all systems began to come back on line, Jarzen increased the ship power potential by one hundred times; then he increased that amount by one thousand times. He was about to increase it again when his subconscious mind thought, that is enough power to destroy a small sun; it should be more than sufficient to destroy these ships and all six emitters.

Jarzen smiled and ordered the Valarian to engage the enemy, and to destroy every unit, ship, or emitter as they came within firing range. Jarzen felt the Valarian leap into battle.

Movious called out, We may not be in time to save the planet. Jarzen felt and heard the ship’s pulsar cannons fire and Varian proclaimed the destruction of two more ships. Movious announced the emitter portal had activated and had begun its rapid pass over the planet. Speaking in a calm voice, Movious continued his report, relaying current information from his scanner, which showed the Valarian was now engaged in an all-out assault from seven enemy ships that were intentionally blocking their path.

Movious called out again, the planet had disappeared and the gigantic ship was making for the still active planet-swallowing portal.

In quick succession, Jarzen ordered his ship to full speed. He ordered Varian to follow the giant ship into the portal, and to open fire on and to destroy all six emitters, as the Valarian passed through the center of the portal.

* * *

Rachio had once again disregarded his orders. After downloading all of the vital data from the Valarian to the separated uniquadrant sections of the Crystal Topaz he ordered the AM-U captains of every vessel to each take in tow one of the damaged ships of the crystal fleet and to return best possible speed to Elapses, to report to Q.

Rachio had been within sensor range of the planet Thromax and had witnessed the entire battle like a silent video. He tracked the movement of the ships. He saw the Valarian destroy all twelve of the attacking ships and he witnessed it make its run through the center of the six emitters.

He witnessed the Valarian and all six emitters vanish from his sensor screen. Rachio arrived at the battle site a few solar minutes after the battle, but additional sensor sweeps and a comprehensive search produced nothing but the charred debris from the twelve ships the Valarian had destroyed. There was no trace of Jarzen or the Valarian.

* * *

Movious called out to Jarzen, Do not fire on the emitters as we pass through. Events were unfolding, seemingly in slow-motion and in nanoseconds at the same time. Movious’ warning was too late. As the Valarian entered the still active portal; the Triple E enhanced Valarian simultaneously opened fire on all six emitters, instantly destroying them.

The ship accelerated exponentially into full, total, and complete darkness; all sense of time and reality were suspended for everyone on board, A-I, AM-Us, and human.

* * *

When Jarzen revived, he was lying face down on the forward optical lens of the main bridge. Looking out of the front view port, he could see only darkness, where his view of outer space should have been. Emergency power-cell lighting was on and he turned over and sat up. Looking around and getting his bearings, incredulous as it seemed, he decided he was on a space ship. Jarzen determined the ship was no longer moving. At least he thought it was a space ship, however, if it was a ship, well, it was standing nearly upright on its nose.

Jarzen called out into the dim light, Is anyone there? He was startled, when a voice answered, Yes, I am here; who are you? Jarzen was about to answer, but it seemed he did not have an answer, so instead he asked, Who are you? There was a hesitation and then the voice answered, I cannot remember my name.

Another voice called out, I too am unable to remember my name. This was echoed by two others. Jarzen spoke into the silence, Well, that makes five of us. Does anyone know where we are or what we are doing here?

The first voice answered, We seem to be on a space ship. As close as I can tell; a crashed space ship; as to where we are or what we are doing here? I do not have an answer. I have been unable to activate the ship’s log. There is no usable information on the ship’s mission available on the mainframe, but there is a photo roster in the primary core memory of ninety-four individuals; hopefully we will all be listed.

The person, of each of the five voices, was able to be identified, but none could identify themselves, as they could not see themselves. The identification photo roster, it was determined, was for the ship’s A-I, which was no longer operational.

The five were identified as Movious, Varian, Ticious, Oreious, and Jarzen. Jarzen was by far the smallest and least physically imposing of the group. Following a short discussion, it was agreed, they were indeed on a crashed space ship, which had crash landed nose first, and was standing up at a one hundred forty-degree angle. After all five crash survivors had each made several failed attempts to try and activate any of the ship’s primary systems, they determined the ship would never fly again. Because all five of the crash survivors were dressed differently, their garb gave them no additional clues as to who they were. The one called Movious pointed out that none of them was wearing a uniform so they must be passengers? Varian announced his intention to try to climb up and out of the ship; the other survivors all agreed to join him.

Because they had nothing to use as a rope or ladder, Jarzen came up with the idea of using each other as a make-shift ladder. By climbing up, and standing one on top of the other, as they lay on the side wall of the ship’s interior, combined with the awkward leaning angle of the ship, they would be able to climb out. The crash survivors could use any fixed protrusion or doorway as the next anchor point for their mobile living ladder, in their search for a corridor, which should lead to the rear of the ship, which was now the top of the ship, and the way out.

A solar hour and a half had passed when the crash survivors, using each other as a ladder; found the central elevator corridor which ran from the front of the ship to the rear of the ship. They pried open the doors to discover an internal maintenance ladder, which ran the length of the elevator shaft and would greatly facilitate their egress from the ship.

Jarzen suggested, and when none of the others agreed, he insisted they search each of the ship’s decks on the way out, to see if there were other survivors. Only the one named Ticious agreed to help with the search; the other three disappeared up the elevator shaft.

Jarzen and Ticious spent over four solar hours searching the lower seven decks, only to determine there were no other survivors, nor were there any dead bodies. As they emerged into the sunlight, they found the other crash survivors sitting on the exterior of the ship, which was sticking up out of the ground. Looking at the others, Jarzen said, I’m surprised to see you; thanks for waiting for us.

The one called Varian said, Take a look over the edge, but be careful. Close as we can estimate, we are some four hundred standard galactic feet off the ground.

Jarzen and Ticious carefully peered over the edge and Jarzen quickly pulled back in fear. He looked over again, taking a longer look and then he surveyed his surroundings. The landscape was lush with vegetation and he could see rivers, lakes and streams; he also saw hills and valleys, meadows and forests. He saw herd animals and off in the distance, he also thought he saw ten slender columns of smoke. If it was smoke, which he speculated it was, he thought it was coming from camp fires.

Jarzen pointed out the suspected smoke to Ticious, who confirmed it was definitely smoke, but the trees concealed the actual fires and whomever or whatever had made them. Moving back from the edge and standing, up Jarzen asked the others, How do you plan to get down? Only to be told by the one called Movious, There is no way down.

Jarzen got angry, turned to Ticious, and said, "I’m going back into the ship to look for a rope, or something we can use to lower ourselves to the ground.

Will you come with me?" Ticious agreed and the one named Varian stood and asked if he could join them. Jarzen smiled and assured him he was welcome.

They found no rope, but in the engine room store room they found six large spools, two hundred and fifty standard galactic feet in length, of very strong bundled fiber optic cable.

Returning to the ship’s exterior, each with one roll of cable, they quickly joined two together and lowered one end over the side of the crashed space ship, weighted by the third heavy spool of cable. The weighted spool reached the ground with plenty of cable still on the second reel. Ticious tied off the end and without comment he went over the side of the ship and began lowering himself to the ground.

By positioning the cable over the lower side of the angled upright ship, they had caused the cable to hang straight down and away from the hull of the ship. Jarzen took a deep breath and grabbed the one-inch thick cable in his hands; he swung himself over the edge. Unlike Ticious who was quickly going down hand over hand, Jarzen also wrapped his feet around the cable as an additional breaking safety feature and began his descent.

It took Jarzen nearly a quarter solar hour to lower himself to the forest floor and when he looked up, he could see the other three survivors were all on the cable and on their way down. Jarzen went over and sat down near Ticious and leaned his back against a tree so he could look up and watch the others descend.

When Movious, Varian, and Oreious all safely reached the ground, Jarzen got to his feet and suggested they use each other as a ladder again, to tie the end of the cable off as far above the ground as they could; to keep anyone else from entering the ship. The one named Movious didn’t see the need, and said so. He stated the obvious, the ship was dead and stuck far into the ground; it would never fly again.

Jarzen, turning his back on Movious, appealed to the others to take the few minutes required to take this precaution against the possibility, remote as it was, that they might ever again need the ship. Jarzen pointed out that the ship was still well supplied with food and medicine.

Movious picked up on the slight against him; he confronted Jarzen, and said, Fine. You be the anchor, if you can. Taking the cable in hand and walking to where the ship’s hull came out of the ground, Movious, displaying amazing strength, ripped the cable in half held up the attached end, and challenged Jarzen again. Jarzen accepted; he walked to the hull, he planted his feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, he leaned in and put both hands on the hull. Movious smiled and using the cable, he quickly climbed up on to Jarzen’s shoulders and invited the others to finish the ladder.

A few solar minutes later, Movious jumped down from Jarzen’s shoulders, he looked Jarzen straight in the eyes and said, You are far stronger than I had thought you were. I thought you would surely collapse under our combined weight. They both looked up at the tied off cable end, which was some twenty standard galactic feet off the ground.

Varian spoke, breaking the uneasy silence. Now what do we do?

Jarzen said he intended to head for the smoke he had sighted from their high perch on top, of the bottom, of the crashed ship. Ticious and Varian said they would join him. Movious chimed in that he would not be going with them, as he intended to head for the river they had seen, and follow it in the other direction, to wherever it went.

Jarzen suggested they should stay together, because going it alone could prove dangerous. Movious looked to Oreious and said, Am I going alone?

Oreious shifted uneasily and then he said, Yes, you are, unless you are coming with us.

When Movious again said he would go it alone, Jarzen asked him to reconsider, pointing out once more that they were on an unknown world, and had no idea what awaited them; yet he was certain they were better off together. Movious said he would join them but only if the others agreed to follow his lead. They all acquiesced, so Movious went on to assert himself by telling Jarzen, as the smallest, he would have to travel in the middle, so the others could protect him.

Jarzen’s anger flashed but he took a deep breath and complied. He had achieved his goal; he would not undo it with a verbal joust, at least not at this time. He had meant what he had said, when he expressed his concern over what might await them on this unknown planet.

They traveled in a single file line, weaving around the many obstacles the planet placed in their path. Movious was doing a good job picking out the easiest path. It was nearing night fall when they came out into a small clearing with a crystal-clear brook running through it. Jarzen suggested they make camp for the night and Movious looked around and nodded.

Everyone but Jarzen settled themselves on the ground. Jarzen gathered dry wood and scooped out a shallow bowl in the soft earth. He carefully placed some wood and some smaller twigs and dried moss in the hollow. He had set aside a short thick dry log, a long dry stick, a longer green stick and a length of strong vine. Jarzen fashioned the longer supple stick and the vine into a bow and put the dry stick in a loop he created by twisting the vine. He then placed the dry stick in an indentation in the log, held a flat rock on top of the other end of the dry stick, and bearing down on the stick, Jarzen began to work the bow back and forth. When it began to smoke, he added some dry moss and when it ignited he quickly moved it to the dry moss and twigs he had laid beneath his carefully stacked pile of wood and in short order he had a growing fire.

When Jarzen got up to get more wood, Movious asked how much wood he would need to keep the fire going all night and after receiving Jarzen’s answer, he told the others to spread out and gather wood for the fire.

If Jarzen noticed he was the only one to drink from the stream, he did not mention it. As nightfall settled on their forest camp, he did volunteer to take the first watch but Movious told him that he was not tired and he would keep watch.

Offering to take his turn, Jarzen told Movious to wake him when he was ready to be relieved. The sounds of the forest coming to life as the sun broke the horizon awakened Jarzen. Looking around, he noticed everyone else was already awake; Jarzen quickly got up and walked off into the woods. When he returned, he went to the brook to wash up and get a drink of the crystal clear cool water.

Movious called out to him to hurry as he was eager to continue their journey. Jarzen took another long drink and rushed back to bury the remains of their fire; when he finished, he told Movious he was ready to go.

Movious told him to take his position in the middle; he turned and walked into the forest. They traveled in silence for hours on end. The sun rose high in the sky and then began to sink slowly back towards the planet behind them. Jarzen had been thinking about a rest break for hours, but when he realized no one else had mentioned it, he just kept marching forward.

About one half solar hour before night fall, Movious called an end to the day’s journey. He told Jarzen to dig a fire pit, stating he and the others would gather the wood and the makings for the bow. They had stopped in a thinly-wooded area, but there was no water in sight. As soon as Jarzen had their fire going, he took himself into the woods for a bit of privacy.

When he returned, he asked Movious about his turn on guard duty and Movious again told him, he was not tired, so he would keep the watch through the night. Jarzen settled himself and began to think about his companions and the fact that they had neither drank nor slept in two days. He didn’t know about them but he was mighty hungry. The next thought he had was Movious telling him to get up, as it was time to start the day’s journey.

They had walked through the continually thinning forest for about three solar hours when they found themselves out of the forest and walking in the tall grass of a lush meadow; the grass was about two standard galactic feet high. The further they got out of the forest the more the landscape opened up to them. Movious was walking them towards the tallest hill in their field of vision. When they reached the top of the hill, some seventy-five standard galactic feet above the flatland, they had a panoramic view.

Behind them as far as they could see was forest; ahead of them as far as they could see was what a rancher would have called fantastic pasture land.

Varian spied movement far off in the distance, of what he referred to as a group of bipeds moving with three large wagons. All of Jarzen’s companions were discussing this slow-moving group, which he could not see. It was decided if they fast marched, they could catch them by late afternoon. Without further comment Movious set off on an intersecting course across the meadow.

Jarzen’s companions trudged rapidly through the tall grass without effort, while Jarzen’s feet would tangle, snag and trip him up, seemingly on every other step. He had just gotten up from his fourth fall and was recovering from his, well, he had lost count of how many times he had stumbled, but not gone down, when Varian suggested he move to the rear of the group, as that would put two more people flattening the thick meadow grass before he had to deal with it.

Jarzen stepped aside and let Varian and Oreious pass him by, then he began his trek again. The meadow grass was noticeably more trampled but it did not help; Jarzen still became tangled with nearly every foot fall, as his foot would sink into the trampled grass. His companions, it seemed, were so strong they just plowed right in through when Jarzen became tangled and tripped.

Jarzen was getting farther behind his traveling companions with each trip and fall. He was getting up from, well; he had also stopped counting his falls, when his anger flashed-over. He stood up, took a deep breath and began walking again. He did not catch, snag, trip or fall; instead his tangled feet would effortlessly rip through the tall, trampled, tangled, meadow grass. Jarzen quickened his pace and caught up; he passed Oreious and then Varian and took up his position in the middle.

After a solar hour of easier going, Movious stopped atop a hill which rose about forty feet above the meadow and looked to his left. Speaking to no one in particular, he stated the group of bipeds should be in the valley below. Putting his ear to the wind, he said, This way; they are traveling much slower than I anticipated.

Listening as hard as he could, Jarzen could not hear anything but the wind blowing through the meadow grass. So Jarzen’s companions needed neither food nor drink. They did not tire; they were powerfully strong and they could hear and see better than he could. Movious was correct. He and the others were of a stronger race of beings than the stock which had produced Jarzen; although, he had learned how to keep up in the trampled meadow grass.

The terrified screams of children coming from the other side of the hill Movious was standing on caused Jarzen to quicken his pace. He passed Ticious; and in solar seconds he was standing next to Movious. Jarzen was looking down on a group of about twenty-five scantily clad humans, young attractive women and children. In fact, most of the children were naked or at most wearing a loin cloth. There were four wagons including the damaged double wagon; the women had been unloading the wagon with a missing wheel, the women quickly divided. About one third of the women were herding the children into a protective circle and the rest were advancing on Movious, Jarzen, and Ticious who had just stepped up next to Jarzen.

The women for the most part, were naked to the waist, although Jarzen couldn’t help but notice the three who were knee deep in the mud and completely naked. There was also a group of seven-middle aged women, who wore loose sleeveless knee-length dresses. The younger women had quickly taken up short swords, long-handled hatchets, shields, spears, bows and arrows and were positioning themselves between the children and the space ship crash survivors.

Varian and Oreious had reached the top of the hill and the women were set.

Jarzen had an uneasy feeling about the defensive posture the women had taken and decided to try and defuse the situation. Holding out his empty hands, he called out a greeting to the women and said, We will not harm you; we come in peace.

Three of the women at the head of their group, who all held ominous looking bows and long arrows with bright colored feathers; were talking among themselves. Ticious leaned over and told Jarzen, They have noted we are unarmed and are wondering if it is some sort of trick.

Jarzen called out again, telling the group of armed women that they were the survivors of a space ship crash and that they come in peace. As the women continued to converse amongst themselves, Jarzen took a step forward, calling out again, telling the women that he and his friends could put the wheel back on the wagon for them.

One of the women hastily drew back her arrow; the sudden body movement caused her long golden brown hair, which had somewhat covered her beautiful bare breast, to move. She told

Jarzen’s group to raise their hands and slowly turn around. The other two women had also drawn back their arrows. Jarzen raised his hands and slowly turned in a complete circle. Noticing the others in his group hadn’t moved, Jarzen said to Movious, Either comply with their request or turn and depart. I am going down to make friends. The food they are cooking smells great.

As Jarzen approached the women, they lowered their bows and returned his greeting. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see his companions coming down the hillside. Jarzen again told the women they would be happy to put the wheel back on the wagon.

Antara Bronta, the beautiful half-naked woman who had spoken the command for them to raise their hands and turn around, introduced herself as the group’s leader. She thanked Jarzen but told him the wagons were too heavy to lift. She went on to say the first two wagons were joined by a stout beam and were in reality one wagon, which weighed as much as the six teams of large draft animals which pulled it. They were far too heavy, even empty, to be lifted without the block and tackle, which was only to be found in a wagon construction barn.

Antara told Jarzen they had decided to chop through the movable joining tongue between the wagons and abandon the second wagon, which it turned out was also stuck in the mud.

Movious came forward and said, Jarzen, if you can lift the wheel, the four of us can lift the wagons high enough for you to put the wheel back on the axle.

Antara informed Jarzen the wheel weighed as much as he did, maybe more. She alleged that it took four of the women to lift the wheel and they could not hold it off the ground for more than a three count.

Jarzen was becoming angry; Movious was putting him in his place again. Movious had set Jarzen up to look weak and to fail in his attempt to replace the wheel, while the others lifted the heavy wagon. Afterwards, Movious and his powerful companions would surely come up with another plan, which would see the wagon wheel replaced and the wagons pulled from the mud.

Jarzen could not back down. Maybe he could get two of the woman to help him. No, that would play right into the trap Movious had set for him. He was able to hold the combined weight of his four companions; maybe, just maybe, he could lift the wheel.

Movious and the others were moving towards the wagon. Jarzen saw Movious easily lift the wheel and stand it up in the thick knee-deep mud. Jarzen took hold of the wheel, which was nearly as tall as he was and he tried to lift it. It would not budge. Jarzen pulled all the harder and the wheel moved off balance and started over on Jarzen. Trying to regain his balance he pushed the wheel with all of his might; he yanked his right foot free of the mud. With his left foot still stuck in the mud, he went face first on his belly into the mud. The pushed wheel fell over in the opposite direction and was half buried in the thick mud. Jarzen could hear the laughter of his companions, and many of the women and children.

Jarzen pulled himself from the mud, whipping and scraping the excess mud from his face and body as he walked toward the wheel. Movious fed Jarzen’s rage when he called out, asking if he needed any help lifting the wheel from the mud. Jarzen angrily said, No.

Jarzen reached the wheel and bent over it. Antara had entered the knee-deep mud hole to help Jarzen up, getting mud on her hands, arms, and bare legs. When she reached for the wheel, Jarzen thanked her and told her he could handle the wheel alone. Jarzen placed his hands on two of the large spokes and pulled on the wheel; it did not budge. Movious again called out, asking if Jarzen was in need of help. Again, Jarzen sternly said, No. Feeding off his anger, he pulled the wheel from the mud. Jarzen looked at Movious, and said, I’m ready, lift the wagons. His companions easily lifted the two joined wagons and Jarzen just as easily, yet to him miraculously, lifted the wheel and held it in place. When the wagon axle was high enough, he slipped the wheel on the axle. Two of the nude women quickly came forward, one with a retaining pin and the other with a retaining collar, which the third beautiful naked woman hammered into place.

As Jarzen’s companions set the wagons down, all of the woman, joined by the children, cheered. Movious harnessed the waiting team to the front wagon and with the help of Oreious, Ticious and Varian who all pushed; they moved the wagons out of the mud and on to solid ground to more cheers from the women and children.

The beautiful nude woman with the hammer told Jarzen there was a river bank where he could wash off the mud, two hills over, and she pointed off into the distance.

With Movious and the others receiving their well-earned thanks from the women and children, Jarzen, who was eager to be rid of the mud and who was in need of a drink and now a bath, immediately set off in the indicated direction.

* * *

As he topped the second hill Jarzen did not see a river. What he did see were small trees and large bushes, one growing into the next and even taller meadow grass. He quickly surmised he was looking at the lush foliage which grew along the river.

Jarzen forced his way through the thick vegetation and was rewarded by the sight of a calm, clear, wide, winding river with an irregular natural shoreline. For a solar second he thought about taking off his clothes but instead just walked right into the water. About one step past waist-high depth, the river bottom dropped noticeably and Jarzen was completely submerged under water.

Opening his eyes in the crystal-clear water and looking around, he could see the river bottom ten to twelve standard galactic feet below him. With a strong downward stroke and a flutter kick he broke the surface and swam back in to where he could stand. Jarzen removed his shirt and thoroughly washed away the silky mud, which quickly dissolved in the water. He tossed his shirt up on the bank and removed his boots which were already free of mud and tossed them onto the river bank. Next, he removed and washed out his pants. He took them to the river bank and hung them over a bush. He retrieved his shirt from the meadow grass, shook it out and hung it over another bush.

Retrieving his boots, Jarzen was surprised to note they were already completely dry, but he still set them in the late afternoon sun.

Jarzen went back into the water for his drink and a refreshing swim when he heard a female voice say, You should know, you are not alone.

Looking behind him for the sound of the voice, Jarzen spotted the naked to the waist body of Antara standing in the river. Behind her he could see her clothes and weapons hanging over several of the bushes near to the river.

Jarzen smiled and asked if he should leave. Antara smiled back, and said, I saw you enter the river and concealed myself, thinking you would rinse off the mud and leave. When you stepped off the shallow and went under, I thought that was the end of you.

Thinking I might be drowning, Jarzen asked, amazed, you did nothing?

There was nothing I could do, answered Antara. I can’t venture in to the deep water, lest I drown as well, nor can anyone in the camp; even if they could have heard my calls for help. It is a little unusual for a man to bathe, so when you bobbed back up, I remained hidden. I was certain you would be quickly gone. Imagine my surprise when you began removing and washing out your clothing. Then to see you leave the river to hang your garments, and then return to the river and to venture into the deep water and then, to not only not drown, but you moved through the water like a water bird in the air.

Jarzen smiled and