The entire crowd exploded into a cacophony of whistles, shrieks, and birdcalls. "Look, there's been a mistake," Jack called, trying one last time. "I'm not—"
"Let a bridge be constructed to the Jupa's new home," the One ordered.
The crowd surged forward, the whistles and birdcalls louder than ever. Jack took an involuntary step backward, half expecting to be trampled.
Fortunately, the flow split apart before it reached him. Some of the Golvins headed for the pillar, while the rest swarmed toward a pile of large flagstones stacked at the base of one of the other pillars. Grabbing stones half as big as they were, they staggered their way back to the pillar.
And as Jack watched in amazement, they proceeded to build a bridge.
Not just a stack of stone, but a real bridge. They started the project some twenty feet out from the pillar, manhandling the stones together into an arch curving upward. Jack wondered how they were holding the stones together, and gradually realized that they were using nothing but their own spit.
Within minutes the arch was high and curved enough that it was threatening to tip over. But other Golvins were standing ready, putting in vertical supports beneath the far end as the rest continued working on the bridge itself.
Fifteen minutes later, it was finished: a climbable archway leading from the ground to the second-floor doorway the Golvins had indicated was to be Jack's new home.
"It is complete," the One said with clear satisfaction as a pair of aliens at the top spit-glued the whole thing to the pillar wall. "Unless you will require handrails?"
"No, this will do fine," Jack assured him, wondering what their spit would do to human flesh if it happened to get on him. Best to make sure he never found out. "Thank you. I'd like to rest a bit, and then you can explain my duties."
The One's face wrinkled. "You do not—? But of course. You wish to see the lists of sides and uprights."
"That would be a good start," Jack agreed. "I'll be out presently." Stepping to the archway, he got a grip on the edges and started climbing.
At first he went carefully, not quite ready to believe the thing was as solid as it looked. But there was no give or jostle at all to the structure, and by the time he reached the top he was convinced. Pushing aside the hanging fringe, he went inside.
The apartment turned out to be brighter than it had looked from outside. Though there were no actual windows, there were a half-dozen waist-high openings in the inner walls where slabs of white rock angled against the outer walls sent a soft glow into the room. Between that and the light filtering in through the doorway fringe, there was enough for him to see that the room was furnished with a couch, two chairs, a small table, a battery-powered light, and a small self-contained galley setup that looked like it had been pulled straight out of an old cargo hauler. Through another pair of doorways in the back he could see what looked like a bedroom and a bathroom. The bathroom's inner workings also seemed to have been scavenged from a spaceship.
"The light must be streaming down onto the stones from above," Draycos murmured from his shoulder.
"Keep it down, buddy," Jack warned quietly, walking around the room and making a quick check of the walls and furnishings. He couldn't imagine a simpleminded people like the Golvins bugging the room of their great and glorious Jupa, whatever the blazes that was. But surrounded by unknown aliens in a canyon three hundred feet deep was no place to take chances.
As it turned out, his first gut feeling was right. The living area wasn't bugged, nor were the bedroom or bathroom. "And so here we are," Jack said, dropping tiredly onto the bed. The mattress felt a little stiff, but not too bad. "Wherever in the name of vacuum sealant here is."
With a brief pressure of paws against Jack's shoulders, Draycos leaped out of the boy's shirt and landed with his usual silent grace on the stone floor. "We are approximately four hundred miles east of the NorthCentral Spaceport," the K'da said, stepping over to one of the white-stone openings and twisting his neck to peer upward into the gap between inner and outer walls. "The western edge of the desert is approximately seventy miles away."
Jack winced as he lay back onto the mattress and closed his eves. Seventy miles. So much for any chance they could simply walk out of here. "Any other helpful tidbits?" he asked, more sarcastically than he'd really intended.
"Possibly," Draycos said calmly. "There are the remains of a mining operation less than a mile to the southeast."
"I already told you there was some mining out here."
"Yes, you did," Draycos acknowledged. "You also told me your parents had been killed in a mine accident."
Jack opened his eyes, frowning at the K'da. "What exactly are you suggesting?"
"And," Draycos added, "the people here seem to recognize your scent."
For a long moment the room was silent. Jack listened to the sudden thudding of his heart, the vague and half-formed memories of his parents flooding back through his mind. "Are you saying," he said at last, "that this is where they died?"
"I don't know for certain," Draycos said, padding to the bed and resting his upper body on the mattress beside Jack. "But the facts seem to point that direction."
Jack's gaze darted around the room, a sudden inexplicable panic flooding into him. Get away! was his first reflexive reaction. Run, before they get you, too.
He took a careful breath, forcing down the panic. He wasn't three years old anymore, after all. "Let's assume you're right," he said. "What do they want from me?"
"That may depend on how they remember your parents," Draycos said. "Fortunately, they seem to hold Jupas in great esteem."
"Only I'm not a Jupa," Jack reminded him.
"Perhaps there is some task your parents were attempting when they died," Draycos suggested. "They may hope you'll complete it."
"I hope they don't want me to reopen the mine," Jack muttered, a sudden lump rising into his throat. "I don't know the first thing about mining."
"Yet you learn quickly," Draycos pointed out.
Jack snorted. "I hate to tell you, symby, but a hundred feet underground is no place to start learning a trade. Mining is a lot trickier than it looks."
"We'll take it slow and easy," Draycos assured him. "And we'll do it together."
"Terrific," Jack countered. "How much do you know about mining?"
The whiplike tail arched thoughtfully. "It involves digging," he said helpfully.
"Thanks," Jack said dryly. "That much I knew." Sitting up, he twisted his left shoe around and prodded at the molded rubber of the sole. The secret compartment popped open, and he dug out his spare comm clip. "First things first. Let's see if the cavalry was paying attention back there." He clicked on the device. "Uncle Virge?" he called. "Uncle Virge? Alison? Anyone home?"
There was no reply. "We'll have only limited range surrounded by this much rock," Draycos pointed out.
"I know," Jack said. Getting up, he went out of the bedroom and crossed the living room to the exit door. The crowd had dispersed, the Golvins having apparently gone back to tending various parts of the cropland. Looking more closely, Jack could now see that there was an intricate and efficient-looking irrigation system leading off from the river. Maybe these people weren't as simpleminded as he'd first thought. "Uncle Virge?" he called again quietly.
Still no response. With a sigh, Jack shut off the comm clip and went back to the bedroom.
Draycos was by one of the white stones, peering up between the walls. "The gap is quite spacious," he said. "It would be easily passable."
"And it probably conducts sound like crazy," Jack warned, crossing to his side.
"Perhaps, but not between apartments," Draycos said. "These shafts appear to lead only to this particular set of rooms. There may be other shafts extending downward to other apartments."