The Great Escape Chapter 9, Part 4 of 6

The Great Escape
Chapter 9, Part 4 of 6

They all stepped back and copied him as he shielded his eyes with one hand. Then, he sliced cleanly through the offending metal in a fraction of a second. There had been a bright white flash. Now, there was an orange glow on the edge that remained. He held out the cut piece, a triangle with two jagged edges and a shiny, smooth edge, gently smoking where the surface paint had rippled and burned.

"Don't anyone try to touch it," he said. "It's still searing hot." He proved this by dipping one corner in a cup of water, which hissed and bubbled off a cloud of steam.

The penknife needed recharging in the sun, after which he took a log from the campfire and, adjusting the laser blade with another twist of the dials, burnt a hole in it. The wood crackled, sputtered, and burst into flames. The tribe clapped.

"You can see how dangerous this tool can be, Juniel, so name your price to let me buy it."

"I don't know."

"How about I make you something? Your chair, for example."

"I don't want a chair."

"Well, you think about what you want, and I promise I'll make it for you."

Then he remembered he'd made a lot of promises since arriving in Samothea and had yet to be able to keep them all. Also, Juniel was an intelligent girl, and he knew that with lawyer-like tenacity, an intelligent ten-year-old could insist on an agreement.

"What I mean," he amended himself, "is that, in exchange for giving me the penknife, I will make, find, or do for you anything you want, so long as it's legal, moral, physically possible, of finite size, duration and cost and not likely to cause fear or harm to innocent people or animals."

Juniel absorbed this promise and nodded thoughtfully.

"I accept," she said. "Will you show me how to use it?"

"Of course."

"Certainly not!" Leanne exclaimed. "Ezra, what are you thinking?"

"She fusses," Juniel said with an air of wise resignation.

"So, I see," Ezra whispered confidentially.

He twisted the dials one last time, locking the setting into place with a code. The blade could only get warm and project up to half an inch.

"I've made it safe, Leanne," he demonstrated by passing a soft red blade straight through his hand. There were sharp intakes of breath - some of the audience jumped - followed by relieved laughter.

"Here, Juniel," he said, returning the knife to her. "If you twist this dial, you can change the color. I'll give everyone lessons on how to use it if Juniel lends it to me for the time being."

"I will later," she said earnestly. For now, she wanted to play with it. Odette and the other children joined her, and they played changing the blade's color all afternoon until it ran out of charge; then, they brought it back for Ezra to recharge it.

That night, Ezra had a surprise from Cresi as if being scratched and bitten during sex weren't surprise enough: Cresi brought her bedmate, Salema, into the hut with her.

Cressi and Salema were lovers and so often shared a hut that their periods had synchronized. Salema was due to have her period in the week she would be with Ezra. Crest, therefore, decided to share him with her. He didn't mind. The three of them made love sweetly. He had the joy of lying back while the two women knelt on the bed and took turns to suck his cock.

Salema was short and curvy, with Creole features and warm blood. Sultry and sensual, in contrast to the wild and agonistic Cresi, the girls made a beautiful combination. As always with the women of Samothea, never having had sex with a man before and not quite knowing what to do, Salema encouraged Ezra to take charge, but when she decided what she liked, she had no hesitation in saying so.

They finished with Salema on top, riding his cock slowly, leaning back, with Cresi sucking her tits and rubbing her clit, while Ezra brought Cresi off with a probing finger, flicking her joy buzzer with his thumb. Juices flowed, and moaning cries kept those in the nearby huts awake into the early hours.

Overnight, Juniel considered what she wanted in exchange for her knife. She consulted her mother and, after breakfast, approached Ezra.

"I know what I want," she told him.

"Could you be sure to get this done? What is it?"

"I want a baby sister."

He smiled and looked to Leanne to see if she was party to the request. Leanne smiled back at him.

"Well, I can't guarantee success, you understand. We are still determining if it will be a sister. You may get a
baby brother instead. What would you say to that?"

Juniel thought for a minute.

"A brother would be satisfactory, so long as he's not too messy and does what he's told."

"I can't guarantee that, either, but I think you've made an excellent choice."

"When will you do it?"

"Well, I must consult your mother about the best time."

"That's a good idea," Juniel agreed seriously. "Mum's already been to the Cloner City once. She can tell you what to do."

Making time to try to impregnate Leanne, a task he looked forward to; she was a good-looking blonde woman and friendly reminded him of something. He looked out for Devon and found her heading to the sea to go fishing. He walked with her to the raft.

"Devon, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you want a child?"

She stopped walking. She'd already thought about it. Her first motivation in agreeing to be Ezra's bedmate was the chance to conceive. Learning about sex with a man was also fun. Now she had Kalyndra, it didn't change matters.

"Yes, I want a child."

"Well, here's an indelicate question: is there any chance last week was the right time for you to conceive."

She had no idea why that was an indelicate question.

"Do you mean, when is my period due?"

"Yes, I mean that."

"Not for another week."

"Well, if you want, we can find time together before I leave and try properly for a child."

She didn't hesitate.

"I'd like that, Ezra. I'd like that very much."

She kissed him sweetly and skipped off to her job, happy that something in her life turned out as she wanted.

Ezra devoted the rest of the day to working on his pen knife, using yesterday's metal offcut to make a blade. He completed the knife with a crude wooden handle fastened to the tang with threads and presented it to Calliope, who was pleased and commissioned him to trim off more scraps from the boat and make knives for all the Mariners.

A couple of days of work were involved, and Ezra realized he needed help making the handles, so he asked if anyone was good at woodworking. Odette was immediately pushed forward. It seemed like wood carving was her skill. With the encouragement of her mother, the girl overcame her timidity. She ran to fetch an example, bringing back a sculpture of a hovering kestrel: a beautiful piece about ten inches high, even more admirable because Odette had worked only with stone tools.

Ezra invited Odette to carve some fancy handles to fit the blades he would make. She took the job seriously and did well. Two other women joined the production line with twine and fishbone glue, and by the time they all rested for lunch, half a dozen knives were ready to be given out.

Seeing Odette's carving skills gave Ezra an idea. Straight after lunch, he made two special knives: a chisel for Odette to use in her carving and a skinny, slightly curved blade on which he put an extra-sharp edge using Juniel's grindstones. Watching him work on this curious tool, Odette asked what it was for.

"It's a razor: a knife I can shave with."

He had to explain shaving to her, and then he made his suggestion.

"You're a very skillful sculptress, Odette. Will you do some sculpting on me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will you shave me with this razor?"

"I'll try."

To begin with, he wanted her to lop his beard short with the penknife on a low setting. He cautioned her that using it near his skin was dangerous, so she was extra careful. She gave it some thought and pulled a comb out of her hair, one she wore to control the frizzy mop.

In front of an audience of the whole tribe, after he rejected complaints from Kalyndra, Cresi, and others who liked his beard, Odette used her comb against his skin as a guide and sliced through the beard, leaving a thick stubble.

"That's good work, Odette," he enthused gratefully. "I feel cooler already."

Then, with cooking oil as a lubricant, she began to shave his beard, going down the cheeks, neck, and chin as he instructed. It was very painful, however careful she was. Inevitably, there were nicks followed by involuntary flinches and bleeding, but in ten minutes, Ezra felt the relief of being clean-shaven for the first time in nearly eight months.

"Hmm," he said, feeling his chin and smarting as he touched a cut, "I don't think that razor's sharp enough, but it was worth it."

He decided to stick to having his beard trimmed down to stubble.

"So, how about a haircut?"

"You want a haircut now?" Odette asked. "You're not going to wait for haircut day?"

"What the devil is haircut day?"

"It's the day we all have our hair cut." She sounded surprised he didn't know that. "At the Cloner Fair."

"What's the Cloner Fair?"

Calliope was enjoying the show from a bench by the table.

"It's an annual fair at the Cloner City," she explained, "when the chiefs meet. On one of the days, we get our hair cut by the Cloners because they own all the scissors."

"I did hear something about the annual chief's meeting. It was the only one Mirselene went to. But why can't they cut your hair at other times or, better still, lend you the scissors?"

"Ah, you don't know the Cloners yet, Ezra. They don't 'lend' anything. As for haircut day, I would like to ask you to please be sure to let me know. I suppose it's just a tradition."

As Calliope explained, Ezra encouraged Odette to start cutting his hair with the penknife, using the comb against her hand to cut it short. She did good work and sliced Ezra's hair back to an inch or so, just how he wanted it, despite the moans of his fans in the audience who wanted him to look like a hippy.

Now it was dinner time, and Ezra recharged his penknife to present it to Juniel so she could keep it overnight and look at the pretty colors.

Two days later, a small group walked southward along the beach, looking for anything that might have washed up from the hollow spaceship. Juniel's treat and job was to find the place again where she had picked up the penknife.

Besides Juniel and Ezra, there was Juniel's mother, Leanne, Odette, Kalyndra, Devon, and Thalassa. They carried water and food. All wore sun hats: crude, modern, ancient, and torn. Ezra had one specially made by Odette's mother, Althea. It was a bowl-shaped leather cap with a cloth surround, like a curtain, sewn onto it. It kept the sun out of his eyes and off the back of his neck, necessary now that his hair was short again.

Unfortunately, they found nothing in the ten miles they covered each way, though Juniel was positive they'd found the right place. The problem was that the dunes constantly shifted, so who could say where they were six months ago or so? Nonetheless, they went for a swim, diving to take a good look at the seabed, hoping to see the wreckage of any kind, but there was no success.

Because the penknife was buoyant, and the long-shore drift was firmly northward, it might have floated for miles before being washed up on the beach. Still, it was an enjoyable day out with a picnic. Juniel found some exciting shells and colored pebbles; Odette collected some driftwood she could carve; Kalyndra and Devon disappeared together for a while, and everyone returned to the Settlement exhausted.

Finding the knife strengthened Ezra's desire to salvage his ship. The X-rays from the black hole damaged only some of his electronic equipment, suggesting that maybe more technology would work. The X-rays also showed how useful Earthside technology would be on Samothea and how it could transform the women's lives here.

A visit from the Herders

Early one morning, while Salema and Cresi were dozing in bed with Ezra, the peace of the Mariner Settlement was shattered by the thumping of hooves as three riders galloped down from the plain straight into the camp, spears sloped over their shoulders. The commotion alerted the awake Mariners, who ran into their huts to get their spears. The lead rider was a wiry but powerful-looking black woman, a Zulu, covered in tattoos. She pulled her horse up in front of the boat and shouted:

"Belena, you old mermaid! Where are you, Sister? Show your face! I haven't ridden all this way to be ignored!"

Her pony, foaming with sweat, too agitated to stand still, snorted and stamped.

Calliope stepped out of the boat and into the square with great dignity.

"I am Calliope, acting chief of the Mariners," she said, refusing to shout. "Belena is not here."

"Well, acting chief Calliope. I heard you'd driven Belena out and taken her place, but I didn't believe anyone could perform such a brazen act of treason!"

"The Mariners exiled Belena and chose me in her place. If you have come to throw accusations about Solange, you can leave by the way you've come. If you want to be friendly, leave your horse and spear behind and join me at the table. We can discuss your concerns over breakfast."

Solange, chief of the Herders, dismounted and stuck her spear point-first into the ground. Her two tribeswomen did likewise. She threw her reins to one of her women. The three stood before the boat while Calliope was comfortable at her table, inviting the Herders to sit down. Solange ignored the invitation but walked up and down, no more able to rest than her highly-strung horse.

"I've also heard you have a man here," she proclaimed. "I want to see him."

Calliope knew Solange was testing her, seeing if she would lose her dignity or temper.

"Ezra Goldrick is our guest. I will ask if he is willing to meet you, but perhaps he does not like being ordered around. If you are staying, Sister," she added sweetly, "then we have fish and vegetables. The soup is also delicious."

Solange remained standing, her women at attention behind her.

"Please invite your man to show himself."

Kalyndra was closest to Ezra's hut, so Calliope said to her:


To be continued