Alpha Centuri Ch.15

Chapter 15

The next morning Ethan was brought to a rude awakening: The Thorians were causing a huge racket cutting the wood with their machinery. Looking around Ethan could see the Thorians had started rebuilding the wall and building the housing district. Some humans were already up, preparing breakfast for humans and Thorians.
Ethan got up and found a nice breakfast of fried pancake fish, which he ate on a flat rock. Then he surveyed the Thorians work. Only 1/5 of the wall had been completed, but almost all the planned houses had their frames and foundation. “They’ve been hard at work since before sun-up.” Joe said stepping up next to Ethan. Looking at his friend, Ethan gasped. Joe was dressed not in dirty rags that everyone else was in, but in regular Thorian “street” clothes. He had a blue long sleeve shirt {which was a tad to big for him} that looked like it was made of a cottony, silky fibers. He wore leggings like Rogancus and had a nice pair of gray boots.
“Where did you get those!” Ethan exclaimed. “The Thorians brought them in our peoples first meeting. They brought some more this time. No one noticed them with the Gutak and all and whatnot. They’re over in those baskets by the food.” Joe explained. Ethan hurried over to the basket and picked out some clothes. He found a red shirt like Joe’s and gray pants like the workers that hung down past his ankles. He also pulled out some brown-fur boots. To top it all of he found an emerald green cloak with a talon brooch. Quickly he found some privacy and slipped on his new garments. “Aaahhh…this feels so much better. We all had been wearing the same thing since the crash!” Ethan said to Joe. “Lets see if anyone notices us.”
They did notice. Soon everyone was asking where the clothes were. By midday the whole camp was thoroughly dressed. Work had progressed on the town as well. The workers had their breakfast break and were working once again on the houses. The walls were being put up and the siding installed. There were so many workers that the process was going quite quickly and orderly. Five of the twenty houses had their sided walls and roofs. Both were lined with shingles like Falakirk’s house. After this the flooring was laid in: nice wood floors with some golden colored tiles for the kitchens.
Ethan and Joe offered to help the Thorians in the erecting of a hydroelectricity dam for power. It would use the waterfall as its source of running water to power the gears and create plenty more than enough electricity for the town. It was positioned over the waterfall on the cliff from which it flowed. The wires ran down to the cave where a computer was positioned so that it could be used for maintenance. The erection of the dam would take at least two weeks, or so the official said. Most of the Thorians worked on the dam, with only a few working on the homes, but the humans helped with that.
The weeks past by wit with same old routine. The Thorians kept working and soon the housing and soon the dam, but Ethan was worried. Rogancus had left to get news about the Gutak from Tusirus, and he returned with reports that Thorian spies said that the next Gutak target was Tusirus, not a renewed attack on Waterfall city. Ethan wanted to help them if he could, but he would have to wait. When word that the housing was finished, home supplies from Tusirus came flooding in. The new homeowners were so exited as furniture, appliances {all the Thorian versions of course}, shelves hammocks all was loaded into the town. Everything was loaded into the homes. On the last night of the first month of construction, Ethan had a home to sleep in, which he shared with Joe.
It was cozy and had four rooms all together: The living room, kitchen and bedroom. The living room had a wooden floor with an intricate rug with many colors etched into beautiful designs. There was a bookshelf, a few chairs, a table on which a Thorian computer sat, and a small wooden table with a round lamp on it. There were many windows, one on each wall. The walls were bright, emerald green. The room itself was about 14 by 16 feet big. An open passageway to the left led into the kitchen, while one to right led to the bedroom.
The kitchen was floored with golden colored tiles. Wood counters with cupboards under them lined one whole wall of the room. In the middle of all the counters was the strangest looking stove Ethan ever saw. He could see no refrigerator, and he wondered how food was kept cool. In the center of the room was a table with four chairs around it. The walls were golden brown. But the highlight of the room was the walls on the far end walls. They were completely glass, allowing maximum light into the room. Next Ethan visited Joe and his room.
It was small. On either end of the room were to hammocks for sleeping. On the far wall was an empty bookshelf with a chair next to it. Shelves lined the left wall. A small table with the same round lamp as the one in the living room was in the corner. The floor was wood, but was mostly covered in a yellow rug. The walls were bright blue, and had many windows. A door to the left was the entrance to the bathroom. Inside was a toilet {of course}; a shower area, and a small washing basin for clothe washing and hand washing. The floor was tile like in the kitchen and the walls were red. The toilet was unlike anything Ethan had ever seen in a hardware store.
Overall he was pleased with the home. Everyone in the city had the same house, but all would be filled with different things. Rogancus described the houses as “a basic, small Thorian household”. Joe helped Ethan load their personal belongings inside, which wasn’t much: Ethan’s walking stick, Thorian book, clothes, and his minute sack of talon. Joe had only his clothes and his notebook and pencil, which was no more than a stub for he had to sharpen it many times with a knife. Ethan placed the notebook and the Thorian book on the bookshelf in their room. He took the extra clothes and placed them on the shelves. He safely tucked his talon sack under his new pillow, and leaned his walking stick next to his hammock.
Meanwhile Joe was already sleeping soundly, snoring just as he did on the Discovery. Ethan was used to it.

**********

The next morning Ethan awoke once again to the noise of power tools. The Thorians had awakened from their lean-tos and were at work. He got out of bed and stretched. It was the best he slept since the crash. Finally he had a home again. Rubbing his eyes Ethan entered the living room. Joe was sitting at the computer, Rogancus beside him.
“What are you guys doing?” He asked them.
“Well look who decided to wake up!” Joe said sarcastically. “Rogancus here is teaching me Thorian letters and codes and symbols and stuff so I can work this stupid computer. I’m doing well.” Joe had learned a few letters, but not all of them. The Thorian keyboard was made up of the same symbols and letters as Ethan had in his book. “Well you keep working. Have you and Falakirk worked out the details for the school yet?” Ethan asked him.
“No, but Rogancus scheduled a meeting for us today.”
“Well, keep working on that. I’m going to take my first shower.” And that he did. The water was light, cool {but not that cool}, and refreshing. After he got changed into a clean set of clothes and had a nice breakfast on a plain, rectangular plate. It consisted of fiery red leaves {which Rogancus said were kroalas} that were rubbery and tasted like mint. He ate fload as a side dish with a nice glass of water from his new sink. His new sink! Ethan kept saying it over and over in his head.
After his breakfast Ethan went to see the construction of the town. The main work force was working on the walls while the others on the Great hall. He set off to help immediately with the Great Hall. He felt that it was very critical to the community.

**********

After lunch break, Ethan met Joe and Falakirk at his house. His house! Not his lean-to. Not his hut. His house!
The two were discussing plans for the school, sitting at the kitchen table. Lily also sat with them, chattering away. Ethan sat down also. “So what have we decided so far?” He asked.
“Well, we think the school should be here in the city. Thorians could travel here whenever they feel like it. Falakirk has already made arrangements for empty “books” that we can record our language into.” Joe said
“Now, we must have the educators.” Said Falakirk. “I will volunteer to teach the humans Thorian, or as we call it, ookshre. Now we must have a human teach us English.”
“I will teach.” Said Joe. After all, I did teach you, Setenet and Rogancus.”
“Then so it will be. I will tell the…what do you call him…contractor, to plan a building of education or school as you call it.”
“Alright! We’re gonna have a school and everything. I can’t believe this! You guys have done so much for us, but what can we do for you?” Ethan said.
“I have a feeling that your debt will be paid…in time.” Falakirk said. Ethan sat back and digested this piece of information. At this point an exhausted Rogancus ran into the room. “Gutak…in…Tusirus…they are radioing distress…calls to the crew…” He said between pants. In an instant Ethan was up. “I’m going.”
“Hey wait for me!” Joe exclaimed. Ethan looked at him, the best friend he ever had in the world…including Earth. “Joe…you must stay here. Your arm has not even begun to heal. Lily, you can stay here to and help Joe watch over things.” He said. Lily nodded.
Joe sat down reluctantly. He knew Ethan was right. Falakirk stood by Ethan. “I must go too. I must be with my people.”
“I need not say I’m going. Paul is outside, getting ready with the keela. He handpicked six of your force to go with us.” Rogancus said. Quickly the three went outside. The six men that Paul had picked were the only remaining reformer security officers on the Discovery. Their name were John, Alex, Bradley, Donnie, Jose, Peter. All were fit and middle aged.
All were already mounted on keela, armed with guns and spears. “Hurry up! Get on!” Paul said to the three. They got on board their keela and rode down the path to Tusirus top speed. Ethan pulled up along side of Rogancus. “Rogancus, I’m worried about Falakirk. He is getting very old. I respect that he wants to be with his people, but what do we do if we encounter any Gutak? Will he be all right?” Ethan said to him. “He will be fine. I will protect him.” Rogancus answered, looking back at the wise old Thorian.
The troop continued on to the edge of the valley with no disruption. They all gasped at the sight before them. A huge, massive, Gutak army was camping all the way around the city, safely out of bullet reach. Over each camp was a huge banner. Each was of different color and represented different tribes. Ethan guessed that only one tribe had attacked is village. Here there was about a dozen tribes. “He is angry.” Falakirk said in a low voice. “Vladimir took on a disheartening defeat at your village. His wrath will be terrible. Terrible!” Somehow this made Ethan feel guilty. He didn’t know why, but it did.