“There was no ship orbiting the planet,” Jade remarked.
“There is a moon. They could have programmed the autopilot to hide their craft behind the moon, out of sight of Titan.” Mason smoothed out the sand and drew a curving line.
“The river?” she asked.
“Yes. Where on the river is Krul hiding?”
She drew a smaller version of the picture she’d done outside, the one of a lizard man, but this time next to the river. Mason tapped the line representing the river and raised his eyebrows.
The chief spoke to his men; they seemed to be having a heated conversation, which the chief ended abruptly with a wave of his hand.
Jade watched as the chief drew an elaborate picture in the sand with remarkable accuracy and detail. It told a story, it seemed.
“Krul hunts along the river.” She noted the fish. “He attacks anyone who comes near.” The chief had drawn a picture of a dead man lying next to the river. There was a look of intense sadness on the chief’s face. The dead man was somebody special, somebody who had been loved.
Mason asked her to paint a different picture, one of Krul in chains, dragged away by him to the shuttlecraft. She had a go, and the chief’s eyes widened as she animated their plan to capture Krul using a sequence of sandy drawings.
The chief clapped his hands and from out of the shadows a woman appeared with a large jug. She poured the liquid into the chief’s beaker, then into Mason’s. He lifted it to his lips and drank, indicating Mason should copy.
Mason did, and the color drained slightly from his face as he spluttered.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “That’s strong stuff.”
The men in the hut laughed and Mason joined in.
“What’s happened?” Jade asked.
“I think they like our plan. I guess I’ve some help tomorrow.”
“They only have spears and bows.” What good would they do if they couldn’t fight Krul?
“They know the terrain. Where to find him and assuming I take him down alive, they’ll help get him back to my shuttle. Callo’s doesn’t have enough room for three of us.”
She’d forgotten about the Steadfast. “You’ve a team, marshal.”
Mason put down his beaker and smiled. The expression lit up his face and sent a shiver of delight down her spine.
“It seems I have,” he said softly.
Somebody began to beat a drum, then another and before long, the men were swaying and chanting. Women appeared with more food and drink, their barely clad bodies draped with wildflowers. They stayed and it was apparent that there were couples because each woman knelt alongside a man and tended to his particular needs.
The circle dispersed, people moved around, and some stretched out as if to sleep, while others drifted into the shadows.
Jade masked a gasp. The man who’d been sitting next to the chief had taken his woman and without any shame, bared her bottom, knelt behind her raised ass, and entered her.
“We should go,” she said quickly.
“Why?” replied Mason.
“Because… because…” she stuttered. “It’s rude to watch.”
“Given that nobody seems to care, I would say this is the norm for
these people. Uninhibited sex,” he grinned. “Looks like fun.”
Jade’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. You can’t be serious.”
She started. A familiar noise reached her ears. Amongst the grunts or groans of the couples, she heard a hard slap of flesh against flesh. The slap was repeated, then again and again. She pivoted, hunting around for the source of the noise.