Starship Armstrong - Season 3

Part 7 - The Statute Of Dr. Kang (VI)

The star woman Maka'ee gazed at the window to another sky using her four overlapping eyes. Birdsong came through from the other side of the window.

Maka'ee spoke the sacred words of the ancestors. She had been doing so nonstop since she and a team of five field laborers went off in search of rocks. Keely had explained that the rocks they were to find were very special rocks, rocks that would help them recover the ways of the ancestors, and that only Maka'ee would be able to find them. The laborers did not question the priestess.

Maka'ee, although as obviously as woman as it was possible to be, dressed like a man. Because she wore pants the laborers could see the outline of her legs. This was the primary topic of conversation between the laborers, and they quickly deduced that Maka'ee could not understand their words any more than they could understand hers.

Gobay, the tallest and therefore most important of the men, resolved to ask her to be his wife when they had returned to the village. They others agreed that she would surely accept the proposal of such a fine and strong man.

Maka'ee led the team through the rocky cliffs overlooking the still ocean. She waved her window around and birds continued to sing. Finally the birdsong changed, it seemed a different species of bird was singing, and Maka'ee became excited.

She spoke the sacred words, and the men lamented that they did not know them. She gestured towards a certain area moved her arms as though swinging a pick. The laborers understood, and began hacking away at the side of the cliff with their stone tools. Gobay attempted to accentuate the firmness of his buttocks as he did so, hoping to impress the star woman.

It was hard work and the sun was hot. The laborers became drenched with sweat. Before long their tools began to break, and then their spares. The men were reduced to picking up loose stones and hammering at the cliff with these. These tools quickly broke as well and had to be replaced over and over.

Finally, after many hours of hard labor, the men had broken off enough stones from the cliff face to satisfy the star woman. She indicated that they should gather the stones with a gesture from her arms. The laborers gathered them up and made their way back to the village. Maka'ee carried nothing but her window.

* * *

McAfree found Dr. Kang just outside the temple complex. The doctor had claimed an area as his outdoor workshop. Here he was setting the ceramic crucible he had been constructing, or rather he was directing Yig in setting it up. Besides Keely and her grandfather he was the only other priest and therefore the only other person Dr. Kang could order around in Martian.

McAfree snapped and pointed at the ground, and her team dropped the collected magnetite ore on a heap on the ground. She was quite pleased with herself that she was able to communicate her intentions on the first try.

"There," said McAfree, "one load of magnetite as promised."

"Where's the flux?" asked Dr. Kang, not looking at her but continuing to focus on the crucible.

"You didn't tell me to get any flux," said McAfree.

"What do you think we were making here McAfree?"

"Hey, if I wanted to join an uplift team I could have just hit myself in the head a couple of thousand times. I don't know the protocol for any of this nonsense."

"Don't make excuses, just go get some," said Dr. Kang.

"Well do you want the flux or another load of magnetite?" asked McAfree.

"Both," said Kang, "send half of your men back with fresh tools to get more magnetite and then take the other half to go find a source of flux. There's probably some limestone around here if I know my geology, and I do."

"That's like, three people to a team, Doc," said McAfree.

"Make due for now," said Dr. Kang, "I'll talk to Keely about finding some more people for us."

"Fiiine," said McAfree, channeling through herself the avatar of the god of teenagers. "Hey Ziggy. Ziggy. Zig. ZIG!"

Yig suddenly realized he was being addressed.

"My name is Yig," he said, still piling charcoal around the crucible.

"Ziggy works better for me," said McAfree. "Can you explain everything Dr. Kang just said to my team in your language?"

"I don't understand everything Dr. Kang just said," Yig admitted.

"Just the stuff about splitting into two teams," said McAfree.

Yig stopped piling charcoal and stood up. He spoke to the members of McAfree's team and they seemed to understand. They self-selected three men to go back to where they had found the magnetite, and the other two stayed with McAfree to go find limestone.

"Come on," said McAfree, gesturing in the direction she wanted them to walk. "Let's get this over with."

"Yig, you can finish with the charcoal later," said Dr. Kang, "go get your sister.

Yig nodded and ran off to find Keely. Dr. Kang continued to do nothing while the charcoal sat in a pile.