Read Earth for Free Online

fish
maybe as many times as the fingers on both her hands. Plus there’d been fruits
and berries, nuts and tubers most days. Thinking back there was only one day
she could remember not eating at all, which was amazing considering they were
traveling though land where they didn’t know what was available.
    She had almost no warning before a huge alien appeared carrying a pack.
He was almost as big as her alien—Andreas—but had black hair, not blond. They moved
very silently. She needed to remember that. That’s how she’d been captured in
the first place.
    The black-haired alien spoke to her captor in the strange sibilant
language and then put down the pack and left. Terah watched everything intently but remained quite still and unmoving.
    Andreas waited until the other man disappeared down the hill and then
opened the pack. Like his clothing it had some kind of invisible fastening which
she longed to investigate. But not enough to anger him. Being silent and still
was much safer. He took out a container twice as long as their big cooking pot
was high, but only a half as wide, turned his hand around and around at the top
of it to release a cap and then tipped it up and drank thirstily. Terah dropped her head so he wouldn’t see her need written
on her face.
    “Here, drink,” he said.
    Startled she looked up. Had he guessed? Was he cross? There was no
anger on his face so he must have simply been polite.
    “Thank you.” She took the container, which was heavy and tilted it just
enough for a sip of water. She let the liquid sit in her mouth before
swallowing and repeated that several times until thirst no longer nagged at
her. Terah looked across at him but he was taking
things out of the pack, and the container in her hands was still well filled,
so she drank two more mouthfuls and felt much better.
    It took her a few moments, but she worked out how to replace the top of
the container, by turning it in the opposite direction to the way he’d used.
That was logical. She’d remember that.
    He handed her a slice of bread and Terah nearly drooled at the luxury. Carefully she broke off a corner of it, offering
him back the big piece.
    “I have one. This is for you.”
    “A whole piece?”
    “Of course. I plan to eat several slices.”
    Terah nearly dropped the precious bread with shock. Eating more than one
whole piece? Just one person? It took days to gather enough grain to make a
loaf of bread. Eating so much at once was unbelievably profligate. But then, he
was so very big, likely he got very hungry.
    Terah closed her eyes against the fear rolling through her body. How would
she ever scavenge enough food to feed him? Even if she spent an entire hand of
days gathering grain, she would still have to grind it and make the bread,
which was another full day of work. What would he eat while she was doing that?
How would she ever keep him fed?
    To her intense shock he handed her a piece of meat as well, and a
fruit. This was an entire meal and it was only mid-afternoon. Apparently aliens
didn’t eat in the evening but in the afternoon. And so much food.
    Terah wanted to sit and worry about how she would find enough food, but the
bread was so soft and smelled so wonderful, the meat had been cooked with some
spice or herb that made it delicious, and the fruit, although not one she
recognized, was sweet and juicy.
    After her meal she sat and licked her fingers, reveling in her full
belly and the new things she’d experienced. Except that from now on she’d have
to find their food. I will learn fast.
I’ll search diligently and keep him happy , she promised herself.
    “ Terah where do you live?” he asked her.
    Fear raced through her body. Was he going to send the aliens to capture
her entire community? Suddenly she wished she hadn’t eaten all that food as it
boiled in her gut and threatened to come back up again.
    “It is many days walk from here,” she answered honestly.
    “How many?
    “My hands and feet, plus