Culture Shock

Chapter 14: Summer months

Virtuous Sanctum’s largest moon hung high in the sky, the large moon was full, and  dim moonlight filtered through the leaves casting dark shadows over the sparsely wooded area.  A light breeze wafted through the cool summer’s night air rustling a few of the leaves on the large deciduous trees.  

Jessica Peters knelt and peered around one of the large trees.   Suddenly her brother’s voice crackled in her ear. “Jess, you there?”

Jessica slapped her palm against the side of the marine helmet she was wearing until the static died down. “Sorry COM is acting up, I’m here.” She told her brother.

“Well I’m going to go left, you go right.” Steve advised.

“It’s not great, but it’s the only plan we got.” Jessica confirmed.

Jessica stood and raised her assault rifle.  The rifle, which looked and felt like a real MA5B, actually fired paint pellets.  Steve, Jessica, Ando, and Ry’a had been playing this game all summer, and Ando and Ry’a had won every time.  But not tonight, Jessica thought.  

Jessica sighted down the rifle and began to slowly walk through the woods.  The only sound Jessica could hear was the sound of the bugs chirping in the trees, then it appeared, it was only a shadow, but the shadow had the distinctive hunched shape of a Sangheili.  

Dang, Jessica thought the visibility down here on the ground sucked.  She glanced up into the sky and an evil grin spread across her face, for the dark branches of a massive tree loomed over her head.  Jessica slung her rifle over her shoulder and bent her knees to give her leap more force.

Then she jumped, stretching her arms out above her head reaching for the branch.  For a second she didn’t think that she was going to make it, but then her fingers closed around the rough bark, and the next thing she knew she was pulling herself up into the thick foliage.

Jessica searched until she found two branches that were suitably close together, she tentatively placed one of her feet onto one of the branches, it swayed for a second but held firm.  She carefully maneuvered her other foot onto the second branch and settled in to wait.

She did not have to wait long, less than five minutes later the dark shape appeared below her precarious position.  The shadow paused beneath the tree, and Jessica silently un-slung the assault rifle.  She sighted down the barrel, but before she could pull the trigger there was a loud CRACK and the branch beneath her left foot gave way.  Jessica cried out as she fell, dropping the rifle.

But, a large four fingered hand grabbing her ankle brought her to a sudden stop before she hit the ground.  The helmet she had been wearing however, continued it’s fall and hit the ground with a thunk.  Jessica looked down, or up as it were and saw that her assailant/rescuer was none other than Ry’a.

“So are you going to put me down?” Jessica asked crossing her arms over her chest.

“In a moment.” Ry’a said in a mischievous voice

Jessica cringed as Ry‘a raised the replica pistol she was holding, and pumped two paint rounds into Jessica‘s chest.  Then Ry’a released her grip on her friend’s ankle, and Jessica fell to the ground with a loud umf.

“Owww.” She half laughed half groaned as she lay on the ground.

“It seems that I have beaten you once again Jess.” Ry’a gloated standing over Jessica.

“Not quite.” A voice said from behind Ry’a quickly followed by the splat splat splat of three paint pellets slamming into her back.

She quickly turned to find Steve standing there, rifle leveled at her. “You have bested me this time, but you have not yet won.” Ry’a growled.  

Just then Ando came flying out of the darkness, and leapt onto Steve.  Both of them went down in a mass of flailing arms.  Both human and Sangheili tussled on the ground, until one shot rang out and Ando stood victorious.

“Ha, we win again.” Ando said holding out a hand to help Steve up.  Steve stood and wiped the paint off his chest. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Steve said, “You two almost always win.”

“Yeah, one of these days were going to have to change things up a bit.” Jessica complained as she retrieved her fallen helmet..  She picked up the helmet and dusted it off, “We had better get home before dad sends out a search party.” Jessica told them.  None of them laughed, it had actually happened once, and it had not been fun.

The four children went their separate ways.  When Jessica and Steve had made it out of the woods and back into the field of tall grass that stood between them and the road.  Steve stopped to look at the planet’s second moon as it began to rise over the horizon. “No clouds tonight.” He observed.

“Yeah, gonna be a great day tomorrow, we should go swimming.” Jessica said.

“Yeah, we should.” Steve said turning back towards the road.

When they arrived back home their father was still up waiting for them, he always was no matter what.  When they walked in he was sitting in a chair in the living room reading something off a tablet.  When they entered he lowered the tablet and looked at them. “So how’d it go tonight?” He asked.

“They won again.” Steve informed him.

“You two will win one of these days.” Eric told his son.

“It would be easier if we had bigger guns, or a tank.” Jessica said innocently.

“I am not giving you a tank.” Her father replied just as innocently.

“I’m going to bed.” Steve said finally.

“Ditto,” Jessica agreed following her brother towards the gravity lift that led up to the second floor.

Steve was awoken  the next morning by the birds in the tree outside his window.  Every morning all summer it was those dang birds he thought as he tried in vein to fall back to sleep.  

Down the hall Jessica was having the same problem.  She tossed and turned until finally giving into the bird’s relentless chirping.  She grabbed a pillow off of her bed and flung it at the window.  The small pillow bounced off the wall next to the bay style window and slid to the floor.

Steve stumbled out of bed, and blinked several times in the bright sunlight filtering  in through his window.  He quickly dressed and shuffled down to the kitchen.  The kitchen was deserted for the moment.  Eric had already left for work and Kelly was probably on her way to the clinic that very moment.  

Steve began making breakfast, and just about the time he sat down at the table Jessica appeared in the doorway yawning and rubbing her eyes. “We’re going swimming this morning.” She said yawning.

“Oh? And when was this decided?” He asked.

“Last night.” Jessica said casually sitting down.

An hour later Steve and Jessica were leaving the house bound for the forested area on the other side of the city.

“Where are Ando and Ry’a meeting us?” Steve asked his sister.

“At the beginning of the trail.” Jessica informed him as they walked through the bustling streets.

It was nine am planet standard now and the streets of Sanctum were crowded with Sangheili, humans, anti-grav barges and Unggoy.    It was going to be a hot one Steve observed looking up into the sun that was already beating down on the city and heating the stone beneath his feet.

When the two siblings reached the woods Ry’a and Ando were already there waiting for them. “We thought you may not arrive.” Ando joked.

“Let’s get going, it’s hot out here.” Jessica said starting into the woods.  

The group trudged through the thick woods for fifteen minutes.  Steve enjoyed the quiet of the woods.  He was just beginning to relax and embrace the silence when he heard…people?  The ruins finally came into view, and too the dismay of all four children the area was teaming with people.  It seemed that there were quite a few college aged people putting down stakes, taking measurements, and doing a lot of writing on clip boards.

“What is going on here?” Jessica demanded stepping out of the trees.

The closest interloper turned to look at her. “Archeological dig/” He responded flatly.

“What?” Steve exclaimed.

“What is gong on here?” An older man asked walking over.

“Just some kids asking questions Doctor.” The guy said.

“What can I do for you?” The doctor asked turning to look at the kids.

“You ca tell us what you are doing here.” Ry’a replied.

“We are conducting an archeological investigation of these ruins that we suspect to be some form of ancient temple.” the Doctor explained.

“We were invited by the local government to come to this planet and conduct several such digs over the course of the summer.” The younger man told them.

“Yeah, whatever, you know this isn’t a temple.” Jessica cut in.

“Oh then what is it?” the college student asked condescendingly.

“Now Terry, archeology is not always right, and we have been wrong on occasion.  It is not prudent to believe that we are instantly right just because we declare this site a temple does not make it one.” The Doctor chided the student, “What do you believe this structure is young lady?” The doctor asked.

“It’s a four hundred year old water pumping facility according to the old records.” Steve told him.

“There’s records?” Terry asked looking up from his clipboard in surprise.

“They can be found in the council building, they have records going back almost six hundred years.”  Jessica explained.

“Yeah, well, we’re going to be leaving now.” Steve told the archeologists.  With that Ando, Jessica, Steve, and Ry’a headed back the way they had come.

“Well that was a wasted morning.” Jessica grumbled as they walked back the way they had come.

Eric Peters sat at his large mahogany desk and stared down at a tablet as text scrolled down the screen.  He looked up and looked over at Etae who was lounging on a leather couch in the corner. “Jessica was complaining about not being able to beat Ry’a and Ando in their war games.” He said abruptly to Etae, who turned one large amber eye to stare at him.

“Maybe it is time that she had some formal training.” Etae suggested.

“I thought about that too, but she’s only twelve.” Eric said clasping his hands behind his head and putting his feet up on the desk.  It had been a slow day and he didn’t have any scheduled appointments, which was the only reason he felt comfortable taking such a laid back position.

“Will she not be thirteen next week?” Etae inquired.

“Yes, and Steve turned twelve last month, the two months between their birthdays are always the longest two months of the year.” Eric laughed.

Etae laughed and leaned forward on the couch, “I could train her.” Etae suggested.

“I don’t know, do you think you could?” Eric asked skeptically.

“I trained you in three months did I not?” Etae shot back.

“Well if you want to take a crack at it, just go easy on my little girl.” Eric told him.

Steve led Jessica, Ry’a, and Ando into the Human embassy, he had a bone to pick with his father.  Security didn’t even bother checking the four children. Everyone knew who they were, and they were in and out of the building on a regular basis.  

The building in itself was an interesting piece of architecture.  From the outside it appeared to be half office building, and half military installation.  The embassy had large panel windows, but it was built out of reinforced concrete, and there were almost no windows on the first floor.  All around the building there were large concrete flower pots, which served to brighten up the embassy grounds, but which also served a more immediate security function., stopping vehicles from crashing into the embassy.

Inside the embassy resembled any other office building on any other planet, except for the armed military police everywhere.  The four children rode the elevator to the fourth floor and approached their father’s office.  Steve pushed the door open without knocking, and Eric almost fell out of his chair trying to sit up properly when he heard the door open.

“Dad?” Steve asked when he stepped slowly into the room.

“Steve, what’s going on?” Eric asked casually.

“Um, we just ran into a bunch of archeologists or something out at the old pumping facility.” Steve told him.

“Yes.” Eric said pleased with himself that he had managed to push that little University expedition through. “They’ve been checking out sites all over the planet for the past two months.”  Eric saw that his son was not too happy to have had his hangout invaded by scientists. “Don’t worry they’ll be gone in a month.” He said trying to turn the situation around.

“Yeah, and so will we.” Jessica said to her father. “In a month we go back to school.”

“Well there isn’t really anything I can do about it, you’re just going to have to find a different way to occupy your time.” Her father told her closing the matter.

Steve just huffed and stormed out of the room, the rest of the group followed.

When they reached the front entrance of the building Etae was standing there leaning against a door frame, waiting for them.  “Jessica, I must speak with you.” Etae said uncrossing his arms and staring down at the kids.  “The rest of you go.” He ordered with a wave of his hand.  Steve, Ando, and Ry’a shrugged and walked out the door into the bright sunlight.

“Your father has confided in me that you have been as of yet unsuccessful in winning a simulated combat engagement against your Sangheili peers.”

“He told you that?” Jessica asked surprised.

“Do you want to win?” Etae asked kindly kneeling down and putting a hand on Jessica’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Jessica replied simply.

“You know the basics, you have needed them to survive here, but you have never been taught to fight, I can teach you if you desire it.” Etae told her.

“I do, I want to learn.” Jessica said to Etae confidently looking up into he dark eyes.

“Very well, by the time you leave the planet for your next school cycle you will know everything you need to know to practice on your own.” Etae said, “We shall begin this evening, do not be late.”

“I won’t.” Jessica said, watching Etae stand and leave.  Jessica continued to stand in the embassy entrance watching Etae walk into the distance for several minutes.