The Worms are Dancing

The cruel reality was that on Pandema, there was no such thing as a free lunch. Maed-Laio set her house in order with an iron will, and an alien was no exception, so with a wounded shoulder and zero agricultural skills, Sam was thrown into the field with everyone else.

Luckily, she had the body for it. The half dozen neighbors who communally tended to the fields got to witness a pale, tailless young mutant yank deep-rooted vegetables in one and lift wheelbarrows with her good hand. It was impressive, but it was also pure mimicry. Sam would watch the Vinisoya boy perform basic crop maintenance as if it were rocket science and then copy him beat for beat. It was an amusing sight, reminding them of their children, although they'd be ashamed if they did this at her age.

At some point toward the evening, one of the wives had seen enough and snuck up to Sam while she was alone. She was feeding the Kukchis near their shed with some brush. When Sam bent down to gather more, a herding stick slammed her right in the tailbone.

"Ow, what was that!?" Sam spun around, only to be gut-punched by the staff. "What gives!?"

"I don't know why Mae and the lad aren't saying nothing, but you obviously ain't human. Why are you messing with the Vinisoyas, girl?"

"I'm not! And I am!" Another jut came for her but she caught the pole inches from her forehead. "I'm helping around the house, aren't I?"

"A Margul would do the same, but you know what they say?"

"I don't know what that means!"

"Young Mae keeps calling you an alien, but that doesn't sit right with me. What's your purpose here, girl? What do you want with the Vinisoyas? Is it revenge?"

The tension between the two women was severed by the flick of a tail, and Snu divided them.

"That's enough, Auntie!" Snu shouted. "She's a friend! Don't mess with her!"

"Boy, think for a second! She's a-." The old lady found herself unable to speak. The boy's glare was paralyzing, projecting a level of bloodlust she had only seen from him twice before. It's been eight years since she met the young boy, and this was a rarity. Only with his teeth clenched and scowling eyes did he truly look like his father. "Nevermind. Mae was right. She is your problem."

Auntie left the two to their devices, hobbling slowly to eavesdrop on their conversation. Sam had her complaints as expected, but Snu had already returned to his usual self and gave his reassurances. It was a shame.

Auntie's sister-in-law approached with haste. "What did you do?" she asked.

"Did you see that?"

"I did!" The sisters were shivering from the rush as if reliving old memories. "So manly!"

Time slowed to an eternity, and what once felt like a month of space travel became three days of intense farm labor. The slow life had left Sam aching and tanned. As the week ended, Sam stared at the bedroom ceiling, exhausted yet refreshed. Despite the drudgery of manual labor, she had earned the clothes on her back and her cut of the food Snu was cooking. This simple, pleasant morning was all she could ask for. It made her question what she was really after, a life of adventure or something more domestic. The choice felt obvious, with fears of the desert reentering her mind, but it couldn't last. Her soul was disquieted.

In fact, something strange was in the air, almost as if the wind was speaking, echoing through the home in tones barely audible to her ears. The tones were mesmerizing. It pulled Sam out the back door and into the garden, leaving Vinisnu unanswered as she passed by.

Her ears guided her off the oasis grounds to the cliff's edge, where Maed-Laio sang her hypnotic melody, her dress billowing by the gusting wind. By the time Sam reached her, the hypnotic suggestion stopped.

"Good morning, dear," Maed-Laio said. Her tone had become more familial over time. "Did I wake you?"

Sam returned to her senses. "Yeah, I just...never heard anything like that before."

"Really?" She smiled. "Maybe you are like them."

"Like who?"

Sam was interrupted by the breaching of a massive black Redstreak, its leap so massive it surpassed the cliff's height. Sam went bug-eyed.

"Sorry, I was singing to the worms." Maed pointed into the great valley below. "Look, they're dancing."

Sam peered down the great expanse and flinched. Dozens, perhaps a hundred Redstreak worms breached from the endless sand, squirming and wiggling to the heavens in a unified wave, jaws agape in pure mindlessness.

Sam relived her trauma. "Are you...doing that?"

"That's right. I sing to them so they may reach apotheosis like their father, Dozae-Rae." The mother gave a whistle that reverberated across the desert. The worms breached once again. However, this time, a single of their number reached higher than the rest, unlatching what seemed to be a thin wrapping that released itself into long, canopy-like wings. It beat them until it gained altitude and four more sets of wings to maintain its glide. Its screech echoed across the canyon, a cry of victory. It escaped the confines of the dune sea until it reached the open skies of Pandema. Its destination was due north.

"Why would you do that!?" Sam trembled. "What if it comes this way!?"

"It won't. There's an ocean a few days away from there. My sisters will tend to it there. If it passes the trial, it'll become a new god, as proclaimed by its father."

"That worm can become a god?" Religion. Sam had heard of Dozae-Rae through small whispered prayers before but thought it was just their word for God in general. Their deity seemed a lot more polytheistic than expected. "And, if it fails?"

Maed-Laio turned back toward the house. "Snu! Is breakfast ready!?"

"Yeah! Let's eat!"

Sam was reintroduced to a new plate of Redstreak meat. She didn't question it before, but many were raised at once now.

"Yapul and his crew should be back home in a couple hours," Maed-Laio said. "Make sure the glider is fueled with what we have left."

"Okay, mom." Vinisnu gulped his slab down like a python. His body tingled as it went down. The nutrition flowed through him. "You should go Redstreak hunting with me, Sam! It's super fun, and it pays a lot!"

Sam's water shot out her nose. "Hell no!" Sam shouted. "Why would I wanna go near those things!?"

"Why not?" He answered. "C'mon, it'll be fun! I'll even let you use the glider."

"I'd rather walk out of here and fight the spiders than go near that canyon!"

"No yelling at the table," Maed commanded. "If you don't want to hunt, you can keep the farm running. Snu is behind on his chores anyway."

This threat brightened Sam up. "Of course! I can clean up the place. Plus, I'm too injured to fly, so it'd be bad if I put you in danger."

"Aww, c'mon! You'd be fine," Snu wasn't letting up. "I was hunting them without the glider for years. It's not that hard. Plus, if there are two of us, we can finish the chores twice as fast. Then I'll show you how to fly."

"I told you, I'm not flying!"

Snu folded his arms, eyeing Sam like he was scheming something. Sam didn't like this. She had gotten used to the Pandemian's stubbornness by this point. She could rebuff his silly requests so long as she held her own, and he was too honorable to force her. Her only weakness was guilt, but there was nothing to feel guilty for in this case! Or was there? Sam wasn't going to allow further doubts to fester. She would crush any aspirations for adventure. She'd kill her younger self's dreams. This was a new age, the age of Sam, the farm girl!