Chapter -3, The Zoramaic way.

"Snap that thing off, right now." The chieftain pointed at AVAH as she floated above them, scanning the structures below her, in what looked like a gap between the rocky mountains on either side.

The walls of the canyon had formed over aeons of years of sedimentation. Walls on either side wound with each, every bulge, every protrusion mimicking  gap on the other wall, like the joints in a jigsaw puzzle. 

When looked up, the ruddy cave walls rose higher and higher, almost touching calm blue skies covering the valley like a blanket. There was a sort of calmness to the way how colours morphed in the skies, clouds dwindling away and reforming. Arya didn't quite comprehend the effect it had on her eyes, some sort of cooling comfort dripping through her sight to her heart, familiar yet so strange. Was the earth like this before the moonfall?

"Amazing." Benji clicked a dozen of high definition photos using his personal tablet.

"AVAH, time to sleep. Come on, let's get you recharged for a while."

AVAH descended down slowly, still 3D scanning the insides of the cave.

Before entering the backpack, where the charging device was installed, AVAH communicated via Arya's ear device. "I'm going to be in stealth mode while I recharge. Sorry Arya, I cannot override Silas's programming in me."

"There are some rules you have to follow while you are here. Well, the easiest of them is, don't try to oversmart us, we are well aware of your true intentions."

Arya and Benji checked out each other via corners of their eyes.

So, in a nutshell, Arya's words had never convinced the chieftain when the bargains were made. In that case, why did Oja let them in? For decades they have refused any sorts of activities with non believers or the government, even with all the chaos going around in the world.

"Alright ma'am." Benji mock saluted with a half baked and pushy smile.

"Right. Now my men will show you your quarters. While on your way you are going to see restricted areas, some closed doors. Do not attempt to be sneaky . And mind you, no questions. Did I make it clear?"

Benji could see a sparkle of curiosity in Arya's eyes already and instantly knew they were in trouble. Curiosity always killed the cat.

Arya and Benji nodded slowly to Oja's orders.

"Follow me, this way." A burly man with a cross bow on his shoulder led them towards a branching gap inside the cave.

Firstly, a right turn. The branch-way was dim lit with some sort of glowing lanterns stuck to the walls. The air was thick and humid, had some sort of sweet yet disgusting odour to it, like petrichor, but a little too intense for their olfaction. It gave Arya a strange headache.

Then there was a left turn, meters and meters of walking, closed doors on either sides and then another left and then ducking through an archway.

At this point, Arya and Benji were so confused that they forgot counting the branch-ways or even if they counted, it was not consolidating into their memories. 'Hopefully, AVAH is on the job.'

After about a few minutes of walking, the dark branchway widened into another cave. The ground was sandy, sky was still blue above, the wall had some fresh water seepage which was carefully stream lined into wooden collecting bins using the old world metal scraps. The stream's pitter -patter echoed inside the cave.

The tribesman outstretched his hand towards a bunch of domes built on the sandy ground inside the cave. They were wide at the bottom and tapered towards their tips.

"The mud houses of Mafraq." Arya precisely remembered the name. She enthusiastically ran towards them, touched the clay wall, traced her fingers along the stick figure paintings on them. "This is an old world thing, and for that matter, a very ancient architecture forgotten even  before the apocalypse began."

"Exactly." Benji added, opening one of the doors to the large dome in the middle. The house was spacious inside, there was a cot in the middle, clay pots were well organized to one side.

On further exploration, the door inside the house led to another dome, which had a smaller cot.

"Now I understand it," Benji let out a small yet exhilarating laugh, he shook his head with disbelief, "the ground and rocks heat up in the day, the mud houses keep them cool. And in the night, the breeze through the cave-ways are too cold for humans. Mud houses are simply efficient in this hot desert valley. Outstanding technology!"

"This is the Zoramaic way," the tribesman nodded proudly. "Call me 'Syf'. I am just around here, if you need anything just call out for me and the valley makes sure it reaches me."

"Okay. Thanks man." Benji was genuinely grateful for the hospitality they had been receiving, except for some death stares he got from the people and ofcourse Oja's threatening demeanor. At least they were alive, it could have been a lot worse.

As soon as the door was shut, Benji turned around and intensely hushed, "what do you think you are doing?"

Arya was startled by his sudden manner. "I guess saving us."

"This is saving for you, you have led us right into the lion's den. Now it's just a  matter of time."

"You know you can talk, right? Need not sing husha-bye all the time. They can't here us from inside here." Arya rolled her eyes unzipping her thermal suit.

"Cut that crap!" Benji pointed to the ground, slouching and holding his hip. 

"What crap?" Arya undid her suit completely and tossed it over on to the cot.

"Diverting the conversation. Since the moment we have encountered this tribe, you have been behaving weirdly. The protocol is simple and rigid - you go to underprivileged slums or tribes or whatever it is, survey their habitat and study them closely, collect samples, supply what they need and enroll willing kids to the education program and bring them back to the base."

"I have gone through the manual a thousand times, you need not educate me." Arya sat on the cot, cross legged, her attitude like a stubborn kid.

"Oh you did?" Benji opened his zipper hastily and went back to his grandfather demeanor of mulling his thoughts and holding his hips and shifting between legs.

"I get it, okay? What do you think, by saying that government wants to help them, they could have just magically let us in? Or worse yet - sliced us open like salmons and hung us for curing with lots of Zoramaic salt." Arya even enacted the Salt-bae move from the memes she had seen online growing up.
"Come on we have been trying the same old method since a long time.

Benji chuckled, remembering the meme of a moustache-y guy salting the food which had become a viral re-discovery after the establishment of REM-net while growing up, once after the alternative for fallen satellites was invented. "That's some 21st century gold right there,"

He slumped on the cot. It was made of ropes braided into each other intricately. It felt quite jumpy like trampoline, but it  was unexpectedly comfortable. "I like this."

"Yeah. I like this too." Arya agreed, moving her body up and down with jumpy movements of the cot.

"Before changing plans, discuss it with your team. Okay?"

"You mean, you?" Arya cheekily looked over at him as he got comfortable to rest.

"Ha. Ha." Benji didn't hesitate to show his annoyance.

There was a beep from the backpack, AVAH's holographic screen indicated an incoming call.

"Silas is online!" Arya got up and tamed her messy hair and composed a pleasant face, Benji dragged the projection of the screen from AVAH and sat in front of it.

"Uh, Hi boss." Benji seemed to straighten his imaginary moustache.

"Well, hello there. How's my team doing up there?" The man on the screen bent over his desk, his face was wider than usual, hair neatly geled.

"Hi Silas. We are doing great here, we made it into the slum. Only it's not actually a slum, you know what I mean? It's a very thriving tribe, Silas. Ofcourse we made some changes to the plan we had actually planned and now we are in." Arya took over the conversation, almost blabbering anything and everything.

Silas closed his eyes, squeezing his fists in discomfort, within a moment he put himself together and went ahead to speak, "you both. You guys have no idea what this means to us."

Benji slowly turned to Arya in an expression of subtle shock.

"For decades," Silas swung his hand emphasizing his words. "For. Decades, we have visited them, unwelcome. Sometimes even threatened them, with no luck. I just...I'll have to update the info to the higher authorities in the first district, as soon as possible."

"Listen," Benji cut him off, "you need to know some things that you're clearly missing out."

"Oh I know all about it, the chieftain must have held you off, threatened you. That goes on everytime. Three decades ago when I was in the recruit, trust me, it was a way...wayy more worse."

"But..."

"I need a moment with Arya, please. If you don't mind, Dr Benji?" Silas looked through the screen expectantly.

Benji nodded. He turned around and shot a glance at Arya before he stormed out of the main door of the dome.

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Wc- 1494