Guval walked through the forest. He was the best hunter. He was the best warrior. His spear was the sharpest and he had ground it on the rock himself. He was eighteen years old and he was almost old enough to be an elder. The forest dripped with moisture in the early morning. The forest was made up of trees that had three levels of foliage. The top level was a canopy that shut out most of the light. It was easily three hundred feet above the forest floor. The butterflies and the bees and, at night the moths lived up there. The yellow blossoms of the kna were huge, and the bees and the birds and the butterflies dwelt up there. Guval had been up there once and smelled the fragrance of the kna, but he was known among the People for his bravery.

Guval knelt by a print in the mud. Never had he seen a footprint like that, and he did not know what it was. He knew the prints of every beast that walked the world, even the lionths. He knew all of the hunters of the forest and he had killed one of the lionths when he was just twelve, but never had he seen a footprint that had no toes. He took one step slowly after another. Water dripped from the liana and the rhododendron. The heat and the humidity were already oppressive.

A snake assailed him, and the snake was twenty feet long. It sought to wrap its body around him and crush him. Guval pushed his spear down the snake's throat and then up into its brain. The snake thrashed about as it died, but Guval had killed the snakes before so he knew what was to happen.

He rested for a moment and he ate of many of the black berries that grew on the vines wrapped among the big leaves of the Rhododendron.

He came to an opening in the forest and there was a meadow in the morning sun. It was filled with grass and it was interspaced with plants that had small pink flowers. He jerked up the sweet grass and he ate it. His people did not get a chance to eat the sweet grass often. There weren't that many meadows in the People's world. He savored the taste.

It was already too warm to be in the bright sun, so Guval waded through the grass to the other side of the meadow. There was a stream on the far side of the meadow and Guval planned to follow it up stream to the waterfall to see if there were any fish in the pool below the falls. The stream was slow moving and deep by the edge of the meadow, but it was only ten feet wide. Guval felt better under the shade of the trees and he walked along the path that the animals had worn by the banks of the stream. There, in the dirt he saw another one of the strange tracks. He began to follow them.

He reached the edge of the pool and he slowly crept out, so he wouldn't scare the fish. There he got a surprise. There was someone in the pool. She stood under the waterfall and she was completely naked. The woman was easily a foot taller than he was and her body was magnificent. He was mesmerized; he had never seen a black woman before.

Guval heard a rasping noise behind him and he turned to the sound. There was another woman there and she was dressed in white. She held a long bright object toward him. "Onni, get dressed," she yelled. "We've got company.

Guval held up his spear and the woman took the point off of it with one motion of the object she carried. Guval stepped back and looked at his spear. Then he held it up to use as a club. The woman moved again and Guval's spear was only a foot long. The woman raised one of her eyebrows at him.

By now the other woman was dressed the same as the woman that was holding the bright object. The woman towered over Guval. "I hope you got a good look," she said, but Guval did not understand one word she said.

"Well, Sophie," said Onnika. "We have made contact with the natives. What do you think?"

"I don't know what happened on this world, but the people are right out of the Stone Age. He is malnourished, probably full of parasites, and I don't think he can understand us," said Sophie. "Do you speak English?" she asked slowly. Nothing.

"What do you think, Sophie? Is he just being stubborn?" asked Onnika.

"I really don't think so, Onni," said Sophie.

"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Onnika.

"We are going to start at the beginning," said Sophie. She put her sword away and Guval ran. He didn't get very far before he was tackled by Onnika Demming. "Don't you run away, fool," she said. "This is your lucky day."

Onnika stood and grabbed him by his fur. She hauled him to his feet and he was amazed at the power of the woman.

Sophie had seen that Goval was right handed and she took his right wrist in her right hand. He tried to move and he could not.

"We are going to try this again," said Sophie. "Onni, let him go and come around and stand next to me." Onnika let go and came around next to Sophie.

Sophie was still holding Guval's wrist and he could not move. Sophie put her left hand on her chest. "Sophie," she said.

She put her left hand on Onnikas chest. "Onni," she said.

She put her left hand on his chest. No response.

Sophie did it again.

And Sophie did it again.

Guval realized that those were names. He put his hand to his chest. "Guval," he said.

He was rewarded with a smile. Guval realized that he was talking to a Goddess, and he knelt.

"Nope, nope, nope, not going there. Not doing that," said Sophie. She had hauled him to his feet and he was amazed at the strength of this woman too. Sophie patted him on the cheek. "Onni I think we need to eat," said Sophie. "Would you be kind enough to start a fire?"

Onnika started a fire and Guval stared at her. This woman could call down fire from the skies! The only fire that Guval had ever seen was from a lightning strike. The results of that had not been pretty. That was when one of his sisters had died. He fell to his knees again. The one called Onnika picked him up again. "No, no, no," she said, and she shook her finger in his face, left and right as she said it. "Not doing the Goddess thing."

They cooked meat on sticks and they gave one to Guval. Sophie took a bite out of it before she gave it to him. Guval had never had a hot meal before and he had never had bread. "This is a hot dog," said Sophie. "Can you say 'hot dog?"

Guval was convinced that he had died and gone to heaven.

The sun was high in the sky now and the heat was oppressive, but it did not seem to bother the women. They tied Guval to a tree and he went to sleep. When he awoke in early evening there were many more women there. There were more than he could count on his fingers. There was a fire and there was a red deer over the fire. The hide and inside of the deer had been removed. It was spitted up the middle by a long pole and a woman was slowly turning it. Guval had never smelled meat cooking before, but it made his mouth water. There was another fire and something was suspended over the fire. Guval did not know what that was. He had never seen anything like it.

Sophie came to him with several women and untied him. He stood and he put his hand on Sophie's chest "Sophie," he said. He put his hand on Onnika's chest. "Onni," he said.

"Uh ... we need to work a little on etiquette," said Sophie. "But we've made a start."

Guval was not bound and he was free to wander the campsite. He looked at the deer on the spit. "Deer," said Sophie.

"Epha, "said Guval.

"Deer," said Sophie.

"Deer," said...