Siblings of Sol: Death of a Planet

Chapter 9

Adam rests his head and wonders what he should be doing. He is not sure if he can get the Sphere to work again and is not even sure that he wants to right now. The fact that he is on Venus at a time when it was habitable and inhabited by intelligent beings is more than he could have wished for. Then, with Evian being such a caring person, also plays on his mind. He has never had time for a true girlfriend and is quite surprised by his feelings for someone he has just meet. Someone he can't even talk to yet, and is an alien born on another planet! Only that he is instead the Alien visitor. He shakes his head to expel such thoughts, simply because of the absurdity of it.

Adam drifts in and out of sleep, needing the rest after his ordeal, but still too excited about the situation to sleep much. Evian eventually returns with two Brothers, short and slightly bent over, wearing loose fitting shorts and open shirts with no sleeves, that show off their hairy chests and tight muscles. Evian moves to the side of the bed and looks down on Adam, as she smiles. "Are you feeling better now?"

Adam has been analyzing the words spoken by Evian and the Brothers and has been going over in his mind all the languages he can speak to find the one that is close to the speech of the Venusian's. The Aboriginals language of Central Australia comes the closest, and he uses that as a basis to communicate with Evian.

He tries his best to slow down his speech to match their drawn-out way of talking. "Yes, I am much better."

Evian looks at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he said, but gets the gist of what he is trying to say, and extends her hand to him. He reaches out to take it, and she helps him rise from the bed, and swing his legs over the side. He still feels hot in the shorts that they have put on him after they had removed his flight suit and jacket, plus the other layers of clothing that had kept him warm in the cold of the ice at Antarctica. Then, after a slight dizziness as he stands on his own, he glances around the small room looking for his clothes, which he locates laying on a bench at the foot of the bed.

Evian sees him looking around desperately for his clothing and nods her head to him. "Don't worry, I will bring them with us, but now we need to move you to a lower place so you can breathe the air easier." She motions to the two Brothers. "The Brothers will help carry you to the village below here and the train that will take you to my home at The Peaks."

The Brothers move to each side of Adam and put their arms around his waist under his arms to support him so he can walk basically on his own. Evian has picked up the heavy bundle of clothes and is heading for the door, when Adam calls out to her, "please stop. I need to check on something first."

Evian stops, more from the tone of his voice than the words he used. Adam struggles over to her with some help from the Brothers and reaches for his heavy pants. She hands them to him, which he takes with concern written on his face. He immediately searches the outer pockets, and in the right-hand one, finds the laser pointer that he will need to activate the Sphere like he had done to the one in the Chamber under the ice back on Earth. He turns it on for a second to make sure it still works, as he points it around the room. The Brothers almost drop him to the floor as they watch the red point of light move rapidly across the far wall.

Adam turns off the beam and smiles at their response. "Sorry, I take it you don't have anything like it here on Venus."

Evian repeats the word Venus, but with some difficulty, as she looks imploringly at Adam.

"Yes," smiles Adam. He points to the Sun outside and makes a ball form with his hands, then he makes a smaller ball and says, "Mercury". Then a little bigger ball, as he looks to Evian and says, "Venus", and points to the ground indicating where they are. Next, a little farther away from the Sun, he makes a ball shape about the same size as Venus and says, "Earth", and points to himself to indicate that he is from that planet.