Authorial Magazine - Manila Edition

Gor-Kaal tapped a small black device
which was on his ear and began to
speak. He quickly relayed what
Nathan planned to do and called for
extra security to be ready in the lobby.
“Why the extra security?”
Nathan asked.
“Since you are more important than
the average crewman of your ship, I
thought it prudent to call for extra
security,” Gor-Kaal replied.
Nathan recalled how much security
had been assigned to the Martians
back on Earth. It was extensive, and
they generally tried to avoid being
seen in large public places. If they
wanted to go somewhere, like a zoo
or historical site, it was often cleared
of civilians before they arrived.
But the Krenth were different. They
were more reserved, therefore it
followed that they would behave in
a more restrained fashion.
When they reached the lobby, they
were joined by two more security men,
who followed them without a word.
When they reached the main doors
of the hotel, Gor-Kaal sighed. It was
not a loud sigh but Nathan still heard
it. Apparently not all of the Krenth
were as controlled and bottled up
emotionally as the Sovereign and
the councilors.
Which means anything could happen…
For a moment, Nathan considered
staying inside, but when he looked
back toward the cafeteria which was
on the ground floor he saw a good
many Japanese soldiers loitering
about and eating. He shook his
head and decided to risk whatever
perils lay outside rather than eat
lunch surrounded by those who were
clearly an enemy.
Gor-Kaal led Nathan to a car with
darkly tinted windows. Even when
Nathan leaned in close and put his
face against the back window, he could
hardly see anything inside. The other
two guards got into the front of the
car, while Nathan and Gor-Kaal got
into the back.
“Where would you like to go first?”
Gor-Kaal asked once they were
all inside.
“Take me to get something to eat,”
Nathan replied. “Take me to a place
you would go. I still don’t know what’s
what here.”
“We’ll go to a place with a consistently
low volume of customers.”
“No way! Take me to a place where
the food is good.”
For half a second, the shadow of an
exasperated look flitted across Gor-
Kaal’s face. By Earth standards it was
nothing, but compared with how
all the other Martians Nathan had
seen comported themselves it was
practically a shout.
“Take us to Gor-Saalas’ Prime Eatery,”
Gor-Kaal said in Krenth.
“I hope it’s good,” Nathan replied in
the same language.
“You know Krenth?” Gor-Kaal asked,
turning suddenly to face Nathan.
“I know enough to converse, but
I’d like to know more. Why don’t
we talk in Krenth, and if I don’t
understand something I’ll ask you
for the English word.”
“Very good, I find it difficult to speak
in English continuously.”
“Really? I don’t find it so hard to
speak in Krenth. It’s a very natural
language.”
“Is it? I wonder if others in your team
feel the same way?”
“I have no idea, but I know Dr.
Robinson and Henley are better at
it than me.”
“Hmm.”
“I have a question, what’s with all the
Gor and Kor?”
“Ah, I would not expect you to
understand. They come from old
Krenth speech, from before the
World War.”
“Your people had a World War? So
did we … But wait, first tell me what
the Gor and Kor mean.”
“They are designations that refer to
birth order. We are a hierarchical
society. ‘Kor’ refers to firstborn, ‘Gor’
refers to the second born. Kor-Neev
is the Sovereign’s oldest child, and
her brother Gor-Malas is the second
child. The Sovereign himself is the
third of his family.”
“I see, and the war?”
“The World War happened 2000
years ago. It stripped our world of
most of its civilizations, and nearly
destroyed all life.”
“How?”
“It was an atomic war. It took us over
1000 years to rebuild our civilization.
It was a great tragedy.”
“What do you mean by atomic?”
“We invented fission devices to split
the atom, which released incredible
amounts of energy, followed by
radiation which poisoned our world
for hundreds of years. Now a state
of balance exists between us and
the Sovath.”
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“Sovath?”
“The other great power. They exist
on the other side of our world. They
are not as advanced as we, but they
have many atomic devices.”