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.In the days that followed he had shied away from becoming involved with Cahla.She would be leaving soon, returning to her people, and to allow himself to get close to her would be folly.But the tribes approached by Chang claimed no knowledge of Cahla, and as the weeks turned to months, and Jenner found himself becoming involuntarily drawn to the girl, he ordered off the search for her people, claiming that his teams had better things to do.Not a day passed without his spending an hour or two in her company.He taught her to speak English, played simple games with her, showed her around the Station.Her savagery, her elemental nature, seemed at odds with the restricted environment of the Station, and yet she never made any move or request to leave.After a year with Cahla around the place, it came to Tenner with a sudden heart-stopping jolt of realisation that he could no longer contemplate life without her.She had ceased to be a replacement, a substitute for his daughter, but had become an individual in her own right, a person with her own characteristics, moods and temperaments.He decided that, when he left Tartarus, Cahla would leave with him.And what cheered Jenner was that Cahla had taken to him; not with any demonstrative show of affection or emotion - hugs and kisses were not part of the way of life of the tribal peoples - but in her own, calm, neutral way, the way she followed him, watched him through her fringe, was always by his side when he talked to his team in the briefing room.The first time she disappeared, Jenner thought that she had finally had enough of this strange new life, had decided to return to her true existence in the jungle, and despite the intellectual realisation that this was for the best, he still could not help mourning his loss.Then, three days later, Cahla returned, the waist-thong of her loincloth hung with a dozen frogs, a furry monkey-like creature slung over her shoulder like a backpack.She carried a blow-pipe, fashioned from a bamboo-analogue, clutched in her small fist.From time to time she would disappear like this, be gone two or three days, or sometimes longer, and then reappear - and Jenner’s guilt that he had perverted the course of her life was assuaged by the evidence that she could still function in her own environment.* * * *The sun had set, but the sky still glowed with flickers and pulses of orange light.Makhabi gestured that they should pull into the shore for the night.They made camp on a broad curve of sand.Makhabi moored the boat to the trees while Jenner erected the dome-tent and Cahla broke out the rations.They ate in silence, seated outside the dome, Jenner drinking water to replace the fluid lost during the day.When it came to the sleeping arrangements, Makhabi insisted on remaining outside, sitting cross-legged with his blow-pipe at the ready.Jenner shared the dome with Cahla, opaqued the membrane against the flickering night, and soon fell asleep.He was disturbed only once during the night, and even then he was only half-awoken.He heard some small sound within the dome, and realised that it was Cahla, nestling close to him.She was crying quietly, inexplicably.Jenner put an arm around her, and after a while she ceased her sobbing and slept.They set off before sunrise in the morning, the steady throb of the engine the only sound in the pre-dawn stillness.Cahla seemed her normal self, and Jenner refrained from questioning her about her sadness of the night before.For the next few miles the river was entirely overgrown with a verdant mat of vegetation.They proceeded down a long, twilit tunnel in which the territorial cries of birds and beasts echoed eerily.Makhabi seemed all the more alert today.He sat bolt upright with his blow-pipe raised to his lips.Cahla explained in a whisper, ‘Here, bad haranga from trees drop.Quickly kill us, eat.Careful.Careful must be.’At last they emerged from the covered stretch of river, the daylight blindingly bright to eyes grown accustomed to the aqueous half-light.For the next few hours they made good speed along a winding length of river free from algae and weeds.Around noon, after a light meal, Cahla offered to take over at the tiller.They exchanged positions, and Jenner made himself as comfortable as possible in the bottom of the boat, and dozed.* * * *He was awoken by Cahla some time later.‘Jen, Jen.Now wake up.’They were no longer moving; the engine was silent.Jenner sat up, working the aches from his back.‘Have we arrived?’‘Nai,’ Cahla said.‘Now long walk.’He stepped onto the bank of the river and between them they ferried the provisions ashore.Makhabi unfastened his own boat, and tied both craft to the bole of a tree.Then he spoke to Cahla.She translated, ‘Four, five hour walk, say he.’They divided the canisters of water between them and set off into the jungle along a well-worn path, Makhabi leading the way and Cahla bringing up the rear.They halted repeatedly to allow Jenner to rest and take water.Already his shirt was rank with sweat, and he was feeling light-headed.After three hours he exchanged positions with Cahla and watched the girl negotiate the uneven surface of the jungle floor with swift-footed ease, effortlessly at home in this hostile environment.They came upon the encampment of the Ey’an people without warning.One moment they were striding through the jungle, identical to every other stretch they had traversed, and then they were on the edge of a vast clearing, the absence of trees allowing the sunlight to fall en bloc - so that for the first few seconds the details of the camp were lost in a blinding dazzle.Jenner shielded his eyes, made out a series of small, conical huts flanking the clearing; at the far end was a long communal hut raised above the ground on stilts.Only then did Jenner notice the people.They stood about in one and twos; men, women and naked children, all tall, tanned and fair, the males of the tribe daubed with verdant stripes like Makhabi’s.They had ceased what they had been doing to turn and stare at the sudden appearance of Jenner and his companions, and he felt uncomfortable under the weight of their collective attention.Then he saw something which increased his pulse and sent a prickling sensation across his scalp.Across the clearing stood McKenzie’s flier, its bulbous glass fuselage reflecting the sunlight, rotors drooping.Before he could react, gather his thoughts and question Makhabi, a welcoming committee of three Ey’an people, two old men and a woman, approached from the communal hut and crossed the clearing.From somewhere, more tribes-people emerged.They stood on the periphery of the clearing, a packed gallery of silent spectators.The three elders paused before Jenner.Their expressions were unsmiling, which in itself was not unusual.Even so, Jenner thought he detected an air of hostility in their manner.‘Jenner?’ the old woman said.‘Come.Follow.’Before the three turned, Jenner asked, ‘McKenzie and Patel? Where are they?’‘Later.Now, come.’Only then did he wonder how the woman had come to learn English.He looked around for Cahla, as much to see a friendly face as for some explanation, but in his trepidation he could not make her out among the other tribes-people.He followed the three elders across the clearing, aware of a thousand pairs of eyes monitoring his progress.He arrived at the communal hut and followed the elders up a flimsy ladder lashed together from saplings.The interior of the hut was dim.From the entrance he was unable to see more than a few metres before him.He could, however, make out the rattan walls on either side, and two rows of silent, seated Ey’an people.The elders proceeded slowly, with a certain ceremony, down the aisle formed by the tribes-people.Someone at his side - he saw that it was Makhabi - touched his arm in a gesture for him to follow
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