Worlds Away Read Online Free PDF

firebird, flexing its blazing wings.
    Instead, what I saw confused me.
    There was no throne, no jaguars, no eagles, and no
firebirds.
    There was a short boat before me, and it was tilted on its
side. A canopy covered the top of it, and it was open. The vessel was made from
a material unlike anything I had ever seen. The shell seemed to be in motion,
like the running water of a stream. Across the surface, it was as if an artist
had created a living painting of bright and glowing colors. I found myself captivated
by it.
    I heard a faint sound and stepped around the mysterious
boat.
    A god did not wait there for me. Instead, I saw what looked
like a plump young boy. He lay on his side, curled up, arms wrapped around him,
with his back to a tree.
    Once I got close enough to him, I froze.
    His body had no hair, and his pale white skin was leathery, and
mottled with blue patches.
    His face was unlike any I had ever seen before. The top of
his head was shorter than normal, and he had a thick, bony ridge starting where
his eyebrows should have been, and wrapped around the sides of his bald head
and to the back of his neck. I couldn’t see any earlobes, but there was a small
bump where his ears should have been. His eyes were large and spaced wide apart
over high cheekbones. Although his nose was extremely small, his mouth and jaw were
long and beaklike. Overall, he bore a slight resemblance to a turtle without a
shell.
    “You must help me,” the creature said, and he spoke as if he
were native to my village.
    Overcoming my shock at his strange appearance, I rushed
forward to see what was wrong.
    He opened his slatted eyes and looked at me. “How are you
called?” From this distance, I noticed that the words he mouthed did not match
the sounds that came out.
    “I am Subo Ak of the Ch’orti’,” I said. “Who are you? What are you?”
    “You may call me Ekahua. The people of the sky call us the
Grace, though my people call ourselves Xtôti.”
    “Are you a god?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “I am not. My people once came from a
world much like this one.”
    I saw that he was having trouble breathing, and asked, “Are
you injured?”
    “I am dying,” Ekahua said. “I will not live long on the surface
of your planet; it is destroying me. My ship is too damaged to take me back to
the sky.”
    “Will anyone from your tribe come to help you?”
    He said, “There are only a few of my people left, and they
are very far away. There will be no help from them. No one knows I am here.
    “But there are other star tribes who might come. They cannot
be allowed to find my sky boat or me. It is too dangerous for them. You must
help me.”
    I glanced at his ship. “How?”
    “Inside my boat there is a—” He said something then that
sounded like stones grinding together. “It is a box with many square shapes,
with many drawings on them.”
    Leaving Ekahua where he was, I strode back to the vessel. I
felt the hairs of my arms stand up when I leaned close to look inside. I didn’t
want to touch the surface. I feared it would burn me, or that it would suck me
into its swirling current.
    There was a long, curved seat built into the ship. In front
of the seat was a flat box with many smaller boxes outlined within, some larger
than others. In the center of the box was a square that contained glowing,
moving shapes.
    “Touch the shape that has a picture of a circle with a line
through the bottom edge.”
    I looked over the boxes until I saw one that fit the
description. Once again, I hesitated. This could be a test or a trap. I didn’t
know what would happen if I did as Ekahua instructed. He said he was not a god;
therefore, I could disobey him without risking any divine wrath. However, he
was obviously very powerful; he could sail through the sky in this flying boat.
    I remembered my people and how we were being slowly overrun
by the Q’eqchi’.
    “If I help you, will you help me? Will you help us defeat
our enemies, who kill