Yuen-Mong's Revenge Read Online Free PDF

one." He
tested its cutting edge with a finger. "How do you keep this so sharp?"
            "I sharpen it on a stone," she replied, while placing the grid a hand
width above the coals. The grasses turned slowly dark, but did not burn.
Within seconds, the meat sizzled, spreading a mouth-watering smell of
barbecue. After a few minutes, she turned the strips. She also placed two
of the flat breads close to the heat.
          Next she filled two nicely decorated earthenware mugs with the brew
she had made earlier and added a few sweetberries to each. Then she
removed two meat strips, placing one on each bread, and moved the grid
to a higher position above the coals. She handed him a cup of the bark tea
and a wooden board with one of the portions, saying: "No vegetables
today."
            He took it reluctantly. She could sense his intense suspicion. She also
noticed that he never said "thank you", something that had been drilled
into her by her mother. Ignoring him, she took a hearty bite. She had not
eaten all day, except for the salted fish bread he had refused, and was still
hungry. The naturally salty meat of the wader tasted delicious, and she
chewed it slowly, while adding another two fresh slices over the coals.
          After an awkward moment he took a small bite, frowned first and then
remarked "This is good," and started eating rapidly. "Is this the meat you
stole from those men? Why did they let you?"
            "I did not steal from them. I was hunting that wader after it had
escaped the craw—the big vulture that crashed in the river swamp. When
they saw me, they knew it was mine."
            He took another big bite, talking while chewing: "But they killed it.
Why would they let you take part of it?"
            She was temporarily distracted by his coarse eating habits. Her mother
had taught her that it was not polite to talk with a full mouth, that only
ignorant people did that, but he could not be ignorant if he piloted space
ships.
          "Why did they?" he repeated his question.
          "Because they are afraid of me."
            "Afraid of you? But there were six of them, all armed. Why didn’t
they challenge you?"
            "I would have killed them."
            "All six? Come on, you don’t expect me to believe that."
            Why does he doubt what I say? Do people where he comes from tell
untruths? "None wanted to be the first to die."
            He laughed. "I guess that’s true. But who are those people? Are they
really human? Are they the natives? How many are there?"
            "No, they got stranded here like you and there are only a few hundred.
It is difficult to survive in this world. My father guessed that they are
descendants of crash survivors sent to colonize this world a long time
ago. My mother thought that they came from the area called Brasilia on
Old Earth, because their language resembles one of the dead Latin
languages."
            "Yea, then they would have been here for quite a while already." He
took another big bite and continued: "They seem to have regressed to a
savage status of hunters and gatherers. Do they also live in caves?"
            He had finished his first slice, and she offered him another, which he
took without a word. "No, this is the only cave I know that is big enough
and safe," she answered, watching him devour the food in big swallows.
"You should chew the meat thoroughly to get full nutrition from it."
            He smiled embarrassed, but continued eating in big bites without talking for a while. He accepted a third portion, but declined the fourth. He
even drank the bark tea.
          She was only starting on her second slice when he asked: "How did
you know I crash landed? Did you see me come down?"
            "No, I heard your scream."
            "Heard my scream? … I can’t remember screaming, and even if I had,
you could hardly have heard. You mean you heard my craft