007 - One More Illegal Alien In California

Caspian felt his senses gather back around him, as his body was instantly put together. If he had not been leaning on his staff, he would have collapsed, even with less of a pull from gravity than he was used to. Cyrril was draped across the back of Caspian’s neck. Caspian shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed to clear the flash blindness. A light breeze carried pine forest smells past him, as he took a few deep breaths. The air was thinner than where he had left and warmer, but more humid. Sounds filtered in, of night time. After an interminable handful of eternity, Caspian looked around.

He stood in the center of a small clearing of trees, with a ring of short stones at the perimeter. Looking farther he could see two more rings of stones. To an untrained eye this place was unremarkable. Adding to the stones, a few ash trees ringed the place, along with a loose circle of mushrooms. The ash trees were of note, not being indigenous to the place. A few large pine trees, a scattering of aspen, and miscellaneous forest growth finished the flora.

Caspian waited longer for his senses to clear. Travel by ley line was always exhausting. Finally, he noticed a bit of native fauna. A young couple was wrapped around each other in just a bedroll, about ten strides away. They were both looking blearily at him. Probably disturbed by the sound of his entrance. Caspian looked at them a moment, then looked at the few stars he could see through the trees.

Judging the stars against what he could feel of the ley lines and the terrain, and coming to no conclusion, he oriented to down hill and started walking down the mountain. He was not sure but thought he was moving toward the equator. Shortly he would need to establish his terrestrial location. Then figure where the descendants of the elf he was looking for were, relative to his location. But first, he needed some rest.

He walked a distance, in the dark. After tripping over roots for the third time, he found a small hollow at the base of a tree. Wrapping his coat and cloak around him and hooding his face, Caspian leaned against the tree, and went to sleep.

A gentle kick against his foot startled Caspian awake. The sun was coming slantwise through the trees, from Caspian’s left. A man spoke. Caspian felt sure he should know what was being said, but was a bit confused by his surroundings.

The most immediate thing that concerned Caspian was the absence of his staff. He looked around, and patted the ground briefly. Noticing that Cyrril was also missing, as also any sense of ambient mana, Caspian suddenly remembered where he was. The lack of mana and the scent of the wind brought everything back to him, filling in the gaps of his groggy memory. The clear feeling of the mana stored in his staff, and Cyrril, about thirty cubits above in the tree was reassuring.

“I said what are you doing here, buddy?”

Caspian turned and looked up into the top of his hood, in the general direction of Cyrril and the voice, still not paying attention to the man or language. All he could sense was Cyrril’s agitation at being disturbed from sleep. The man spoke a third time, and Caspian was chagrinned to remember that he had forgotten to refresh his memory of the language he had learned while he spent two years here in one of their colleges: right now was not the time to do that either. Caspian pushed his hood back enough to see out, and rubbed his head. A young man in brown clothes and a round brimmed hat stood at his feet.

“I just traveled in from my home.” Caspian doubted the man understood his language anymore than Caspian understood the man’s. He stood and stretched, yawning wide, and tossing back his hood. He then opened his cape and coat, and shook the opening back and forth to air it, and him, out a bit.

The man stood and watched. A device on his belt squawked, and a voice came from it. The man pulled the box from his belt, and held it to his mouth, talking into it.

“Looks like a vagrant. If he speaks English, he is either too whacked right now to understand, or a good actor. Doesn’t seem dangerous, though.”

“Bring him on in. At least until we can determine for sure who and what he is.”

“Copy that.”

He put the box back on his belt. “All right pal. Let’s go for a walk.” He took Caspian’s arm in a solid grip as he spoke, and gently directed him down the hill.

Caspian thought better of his instinct to argue. At least until he knew where he was. He figured it was better to be thought debilitated, than criminal. They walked a distance on a game trail, and then crossed onto a hiking trail. This was narrow enough to cause them to walk single file. Caspian was put in front. After a bit of distance was covered, they came to a dirt road. A large vehicle was parked just off the road, by the trailhead. Seeing this, Caspian was delighted. By the general condition of the vehicle, he had a good idea of where he was. And looking at the alphabet on the side, he was all but sure of it. But it had been nearly ten years since he had been here, and his memory of the language was still a bit fuzzy.

The man opened one of the rear doors on the metal transport. He helped Caspian in, and buckled him into a restraint harness. As he did this, he noticed Caspian’s knives, and crossbow.

“Stupid.” The man muttered. He then pulled Caspian back out.

“Put your hands against the truck.” He turned Caspian to face the vehicle.

Caspian had been searched rarely enough that he was not sure what to do. The man was still being patient, but forceful. He put Caspian’s hands against the side of the vehicle, and forced his legs apart, so that he was leaning over a bit. He then pulled Caspian’s cloak and then his coat aside, and removed Caspian’s belt. He patted the vest down, and dug into its pockets checking for weapons. The man also removed Caspian’s food sack and water bag. He then found the knife on Caspian’s wrist and removed it. He left all this on the ground as he again put Caspian back in the vehicle.

The man put all Caspian’s stuff in the rear compartment, and walked around the far side of the vehicle. He then climbed in and sat at the controls. Caspian watched with some interest, as his memories slowly worked their way back to him.

The man operated the vehicle along the road and off the mountain. He crossed one valley and into a second. Here he pulled into a small cleared area around a medium sized house. A large metal frame tower with a watch house at its top connected to the house.

Caspian was helped out of the vehicle and into the house by the man. He took Caspian into the main room and sat him on a chair against a wall. The room was longer than it was wide, a short wall running across the long way with a counter on top of it. This side of the counter had several pieces of domestic furniture scattered about it. Two desks and a table were on the other side of the counter. Several objects and devices were scattered across these, many of them duplicates of each other. A woman, doing something to a flat box of some kind while watching another tall thin box, sat at a desk. A man stood at the table, and drew on a chart with several drafting implements scattered about him. He appeared to be plotting something. A large dog, with short brown and black fur sprawled under one of the windows. It noticed their entrance, but made no other move from where it lay. Its large pointed muzzle and triangular ears showed it to be quite alert, though currently harmless.

The people talked a bit and then the man that brought Caspian went outside, and came back with his things. These were placed on a desk behind the counter. The first man then began writing on a pad of paper.

Caspian still had not had breakfast, and was feeling quite dehydrated. And looking at the sun, he figured it was mid-morning or late afternoon. Either way he was hungry and thirsty.

“Mind if I eat something?” He spoke in his native language, knowing that he would not be understood.

The map man and the first man both looked at him. Caspian reached carefully into one of his vest pockets, and pulled out a chunk of jerky. Not filling, but enough to take off the edge. He chewed on this while these people decided what to do. He also carefully retrieved a water skin from across the counter and quickly sipped it dry.