The future vision swelled in the mind of the Lemur-Dude fem as the post-coital astral projection abated and she floated back into her body. There would be much blood and fire. The rapes and murders of the invaders would be avenged tenfold when the Old Ones returned.
“C’mon, Maria baby. Say it.”
Maria was not her name. Her true-name was a string of plosives pitched above Human hearing plus a whiff of pheromones. But Combat Corporal Rodriquez was ignorant of Real-Speak.
“I know it’s more than stiff-weed, this thing we got. I want to hear it from you is all.”
She went to the pretty-smelling candle he had given her. The ceremonial costume he had brought made breathing hard. Customers never allowed for fur; stiff-weed made her seem as laughably bare-skinned as a Human after their eyes pin-pointed.
“That sashay makes me feel almost home. Only need to add–” He cut the air with ritual motions. She grabbed the fetish sticks that came with the costume and did the sacred dance he had taught her.
“North Salinas Steinbecks, Lead the way!
Show them you know how to write the play!”
“Damn,” Combat Corporal Rodriquez said, “Now if you’d — ”
She set down the sticks and blew out the candle. A wisp of smoke trailed up. “Dress,” she said. “Go.”
“I got three hours till report.”
“Your thirty minutes done,” she said. “Waiting list backed up.”
Maybe she should say the three Earth words he wanted her to speak. She would say them if he were like the others; if he were only worthy of lies. But his thoughts were not spotted with the thrill of pain-giving; sorrow sugared the mind pictures he carried of torched huts and burning nestlings.
“Don’t know why you’re so cold.” He jammed brown legs into the black Invader outer skins. He pointed to the candle. “We’re talking four ounces of California beeswax infused with pure Indian sandalwood. Two months pay for the freight bill.”
This one did not deserve the fire and blood that was coming. He was as innocent as her lost nestlings. He was only a male who missed his mate.
“I’ll say it if you won’t.” The black Invader skin had sealed around him except for hands, neck, and head. “I love — ”
She leapt at him. Teeth tore at the soft flesh of his neck. Spit glands pumped hormonal markers into the exposed tissues.
He flung her into the corner. “What the — ?” He stood with one hand holding a blaster and the other staunching the wound. “Shit,” he said. “I guess I was wrong. You’re really just a fucking animal, like everyone says.” And then he left.
It was like the story the Invader priests told, she thought. The Old Ones would not punish this nestling now that she had marked him. He would be passed over.
She never saw him again, but she often did the ceremonial dance in hope that it blessed him somehow.
Chuck Von Nordheim writes in Ohio.
loading...
A new and interesting story is posted every day.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed! (what is rss)
Don’t miss another story! Subscribe to Every Day Fiction via RSS.- Share on Facebook
14 Responses to “THREE EARTH WORDS • by Chuck Von Nordheim”
Comments
« THE STORYTELLER • by Megan McGee | Home | THE LANGUAGE WE SPEAK • by Donald Avery »
August 4th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I read this expecting to be bored by more Sci-Fi nonsense. In a way, that’s what it is. It recycles that hoary old cliche of the American Marine being cleverer than the ignorant and superstitious native whore. (Christ, how big a defeat will it need before that fantasy is finally binned?)
However, the line “Her true-name was a string of plosives pitched above Human hearing” tells you that this writer knows what he’s doing. It’s an interesting exploration of synaesthesia and cross-cultural experiences of a non-human narrator.
It’s a great what-if. Would names have a pheromone element? Would homes be nests? Would hormonal markers be another complex form of communication? Children would be nestlings. Clothes would seem ridiculous.
The way this is explored through the narrator is also very skillful. Her language is cleverly adjusted to suit a being for whom sight and smell are as important as the combination of sight and sound. It was an enjoyable read.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:25 am
That first sentence is a doozy, and not in a good way. I’m glad I pushed through, as the story behind it is good – pain, loss, grace, redemption and protection efficiently packed into very few words.
A few mechanical problems: the above-mentioned first sentenc; also, the sentence “if he were only worthy of lies” should probably read “if he were worthy only of lies” to get the real meaning across – that is, that the marine is worth more than his fellows due to his empathy and guilt.
All things considered, a good tale that could have used one more edit.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:40 am
I agree with Bob above. That first sentence almost lost me but by the second paragraph I was hooked. I liked the “cross-cultural” references making the narrator more than an expository conduit of male sci-fi soft-porn fantasy. Good story over all.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Very ‘visually’ written, but I just don’t understand what’s going on.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Huh? This one was very difficult to decipher. I finally figured out what was happening, but still, a lot of the little actions and by-play never connected with anything else.
As a previous comment says, “Very ‘visually’ written” but I think the author was trying so hard for “visual” that he missed on “story” and “ease of comprehension.”
August 4th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Ooops. Forgot to click on “Notify”
August 4th, 2009 at 7:25 am
It took me about a third of the story to get into it. As noted, the first sentence was a killer. At the same time, there was some great off-planit storytelling. Things like, “Two month’s pay for the freight bill” were better than the usual, “we were a gazillion miles from earth”. So, a final polish would’ve helped.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] Free Fiction: Read the flash fiction story “Three Earth Words” by Chuck Von Nordheim. [...]
August 4th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
This one was way over my head–or way beneath, as the case may be. I get the Grendel’s mother-lust vibe, but the rest is simply lost in space. I was very much intrigued by the line “North Salinas Steinbecks, Lead the way!” since I live in Salinas near the Steinbeck House; but once again I can’t figure out why the line is there or what is its import, or who these beings are and where/when they are, or why I should think about it twice.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I always wonder how wise, telepathic races with all powerful Old One Guardians manage to be conquered by Space Marines stuck in a 20th century mindset. Didn’t hate it by any means, but wasn’t my favorite story to appear lately.
–John
August 4th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Wouldn’t a telepathic race (with old one’s to boot) have known the invaders were coming and planned a counter attack or evaded them completely? I’m just saying. . .
August 4th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Visual but, being the occasional Sci-Fi novel reader, I feel there’s a lot of the story missing. It seemed that this was a snippet from a much longer piece.
Maybe it’s just me, but I agree with Margie, why didn’t this telepathetic race not know of a future invasion?
August 5th, 2009 at 4:58 am
I liked this – after getting over the first sentence – and the fact that she appeared to save him even though he may never know it.
Quite a few stories on EDF are just scenes that may or may not be part of a bigger piece – some work well stand-alone, others look too isolated, but this one works for me.
Note sure where telepathy comments come into it – I assumed she just had the odd vision, so the plot holds.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
[...] THREE EARTH WORDS – by Chuck Von Nordheim (everydayfiction.com) [...]