Chapter 4
1258 Words
“Attention, everyone, this is your captain. We hope you"ve enjoyed your interstellar flight from Alpha Caeli. We"ll be landing on Achernar Tertius in approximately twenty minutes. At this time, due to the unique conditions, we do require that all passengers return to their seats …”
The announcement waking her, Archeologist Nosuma Okande sighed, the trip nearly over. She wondered what conditions the pilot referred to, wanting to ask the stewardess but reluctant. The flight hadn"t started well.
Nosuma"s view from the middle seat consisted of the seat back in front of her and the backs of several heads, nearly all having straight, lifeless hair, so unlike her thick black curls. She counted herself among five individuals of African ancestry on the flight. An isolated planet in the Achernar subsystem adjacent to Triangulum Australe, Achernar Tertius sat above the galactic plane like some abandoned stepchild.
Nosuma wasn"t terribly happy with the position she"d taken. Known to its primarily African inhabitants as Babwe, Achernar Tertius was considered a relative backwater among archeology sites along the Perseus Arm. And if the flight hadn"t begun so badly …
Among the first to board, the seats unassigned, Nosuma had chosen an aisle seat three-quarters of the way back and had read her Archeology journal while the cabin had filled. Someone had taken the window seat, leaving the middle seat free, while a similar configuration had assembled itself in the row in front of hers. Inevitably, minutes before departure, last to board was a couple, the last two seats beside Nosuma and the seat directly in front of it.
The couple exchanged a glance, looked at the two seats, and then looked at the stewardess. “Is there any way we could sit together?”
“The seats aren"t assigned, Sir, my apologies.”
The couple again glanced at each other, and then the man said as if addressing a group, “My wife and I would like to sit together, please.”
No one moved, and no one looked at them.
The couple looked at the stewardess, as if expecting her to do something.
“I"m not able to ask anyone to move, Sir.”
The lady looked at the four people seated around the two empty seats and cleared her throat. “Forgive me, but my husband and I are going on our honeymoon, and we would like to sit together, please.”
Again, no one moved. Only Nosuma looked at them.
“The flight is preparing to depart,” the stewardess said. “You"re welcome to have a seat in the available spaces, or you can take the next flight. Which would you like to do?”
The couple exchanged a glance but neither moved.
“My wife and I would like to sit together, please,” the gentleman said. His voice hadn"t changed, but it was clear to Nosuma that he was willing to cause a delay in their departure.
“This flight isn"t able to accommodate that, Sir. You"ll need to take the next flight.”
“I"ll move,” Nosuma said, standing and moving into the aisle.
Once everyone was settled, Nosuma in the middle seat, the woman leaned over from the row behind her.
“I just want to say thank you. I"m Lucy Muluba, short for Lusiba. Your kindness won"t be forgotten.”
“You"re welcome, Lucy.” Nosuma wondered at the other woman"s name, her features Caucasian. “Are you Babwean? Your name certainly sounds like it.”
“I am by adoption, yes. And you?”
Nosuma introduced herself, and they shook. “Enjoy your honeymoon.” She could feel the stewardess"s baleful glare, the red seat-belt sign flashing imminently.
The woman had then sat down, and Nosuma didn"t exchange another word with them throughout the ten-hour flight, sleeping and reading by turns.
Now, the flight ending, she tidied her tiny space in preparation for landing. Nosuma saw something in the seat-back pocket right in front of her, wondering why she hadn"t seen it before.
Slim, a half-inch through, just the top protruding above the pocket edge, the pole sculpture was instantly recognizable. The rounded top was carved with intricate interwoven lines, representing braids. Nosuma already knew what the remainder looked like, even before she reached for it. A female procreation figurine, with face, breasts, and abdomen vaguely emphasized, and the pubic area highly detailed.
She grasped it between her thumb and forefinger, and the interstellar ship fell away.
The vast interior plateau of Babwe"s major continent spread before her, a single chain of mountains to the west, the plains extending nearly all the way to the eastern seaboard, spidery branches of two major rivers splayed across the mostly-grasslands terrain, barely a tenth of it forested. Bright points glowed across the plain, like cities at night.
The Zimbabwe, or as translated from Shona, “Large houses of stone.” The archeological sites Nosuma had come to study.
She knew she was seeing far more sites on the plains below her than any map would indicate. She gasped and let go of the pole sculpture.
The passenger cabin snapped back into place around her. The ship shuddered as it entered the Babwean atmosphere, the wings outside the window aglow with the heat of reentry.
She snatched the figurine from the seat back pocket and slipped it into her bag, but as quick as she was, the figurine still jerked her from the cabin briefly.
What is that thing? she wondered, sweat beading on her forehead.
“Are you all right, miss?” the stewardess said.
“Fine, thank you. Touch of anxiety, is all,” Nosuma said, not meeting the woman"s gaze. The stewardess continued down the aisle, checking seatbelts and trays.
The flight landed without incident.
Standing to disembark, the couple invited her to deplane first. Nosuma saw the woman glance at the pocket where the pole sculpture had been.
After gathering her luggage in the terminal, Nosuma approached the couple. “How was your flight?”
“Quite pleasant, thanks to you,” the gentleman said. “Greatly appreciated, your changing seats to accommodate us, Ms. Okande.”
“You"re welcome,” Nosuma said, nodding. She looked directly at the woman. “I"m grateful for the little gift, Lucy, something I"m sure to treasure.”
Lucy Muluba"s eyes widened. “Gift? What gift?”
“The pole carving? The figurine in the seat-back pocket in front of me?”
Again, Lucy looked at her blankly, shaking her head. “I don"t know what you"re referring to.”
Nosuma dug into her bag. “This little mother-goddess figurine…” She didn"t see it and dug a little farther. “Don"t know where it went. Braided hair, carved from teak.” She saw the woman"s complete bewilderment. Did I just imagine it all? Nosuma wondered, becoming uncomfortable, sure she put it in her bag in the outside pocket right beside her blush compact, the only two items in that pocket. Now there was only one item, the compact.
“Sorry, uh, I must have been dreaming. Very nice to meet you, enjoy your honeymoon,” she said and abruptly took her leave, heading for the terminal entrance.
In the hovertaxi, en route to the hotel, Nosuma checked her bag again.
The figurine was tucked under her blush compact.
She stared at it, knowing there was no way she could have missed it in the outer pocket, leaving her with only one conclusion: It hadn"t wanted to be found.
That"s ridiculous, she told herself.
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