He immediately swerved into the tree line, and kept going south under the cover of the vegetation. He hadn"t met any dangerous wild animals during the five months he"d already spent in the New World. He hadn"t encountered any other settlers, either. It looked like the people living in his area back in Mumbai were too scared of the cube to have taken any items.

His goatskin shift was wet. While he"d been eating dinner with Rani, his second self had evidently swam across a river or a creek. On his previous excursions south, Samir had always stopped at what he thought was the New World"s Patalganga river. He had ordered his alter ego to press as far south as possible. And he had, but in the process he must have eaten and drank all the supplies that he"d taken with him.

Samir was getting increasingly hungry and thirsty, so he was very happy to discover a lot of coconut palms growing further south - there were none near his settlement. There were many coconuts lying on the ground under the trees. He cracked several open, and drank the milk and ate the kernels.

He wished his goatskin shift had a pocket. As it was, he had to carry the biggest, choicest coconut he could find. His other hand held the staff he had made soon after arriving in the New World.

After he"d drank and eaten, he hesitated for a while. He wasn"t sure what to do next. He had never ventured that far from the settlement. On all the previous occasions when he"d gone out to explore, he turned back around midday in order to return home before nightfall.

But now, it was already the middle of the afternoon. He had no hope of getting anywhere near home before darkness. He would have to find a place to sleep, and begin his return journey the next day. Therefore, it made sense to continue onward for another couple of hours or so. Maybe he"d get lucky again, and come across something as valuable as the coconut palms?

He got to his feet and got going. But he"d hardly walked more than a hundred steps when the thong on his right sandal broke. He was wearing the crude but helpful footwear he and Rani had made out of goatskin: foot-sized, foot-shaped pieces of hide made fast with a couple of leather strips.

He had to tie the strip that held the front of his makeshift shoe to his foot. It was already pretty short, and the knot bit into the skin on the top of his foot when he resumed walking. So he sat down again, and examined his footwear. It was quickly obvious there was not much he could do.

Then he had a brainwave. The coconut! He could pull strands of fiber from the sh.e.l.l, and twist them into a string! He was looking around for a sharp-edged stone to cut the green outer skin of the nut when he heard a noise.

Something, or someone, was moving in the undergrowth not far from where he sat.

Samir froze. His hand instinctively reached out and took hold of his staff. It was a stout stick that reached up almost to his armpit when he stood. It was a fine weapon against snakes and scorpions. It wouldn"t be much help against a tiger. Tigers usually kept some distance away from the sh.o.r.e. But who knew what tigers were like in the New World.

He gripped his staff tighter and sat still, listening and watching. There was a single rustle, and then total silence except for the cries of the seagulls.

"Who are you?"

Samir jumped to his feet and turned around.

There was a man standing not more than a dozen paces away. He was partly hidden by a bush, but Samir could see he was quite short: the top of his head was roughly level with Samir"s shoulder. It was bald: a fringe of black hair straggled messily over his ears.

The man"s skin was dark, almost black, and he was holding a crude spear. It was shorter than Samir"s staff, so Samir didn"t feel scared. The other man didn"t look particularly strong, either. The arm that held the spear did not show much muscle.

Samir said:

"My name is Samir. What"s yours?"

"Madan," said the man reluctantly. Samir could see he was suspicious, and decided to take a risk.

"Happy to meet you," he said, and grinned and threw his staff down on the ground. Then he took a step forward, hand outstretched.

Madan hesitated before walking up to Samir. He still clutched his spear. But when he got within striking distance he stopped and smiled and shook Samir"s hand.

"I"m happy to meet you, too," he said. "I love my wife, but..." He wrinkled his nose and added:

"It"s nice to a see a new face. A friendly face."

Samir laughed with relief. He said:

"Please, sit down." He sat down first, putting himself completely at Madan"s mercy. Madan sat down too, and Samir was relieved to see him put his spear on the ground.

"My settlement is to the north," said Samir. "Where is yours?"

"South," Mandan said cautiously. His eyes were fixed on Samir"s face.

"Well, "settlement" is a big word really, for the place where I live. It"s just me and my wife."

Madan broke into a delighted grin.

"Really? That"s just like us. Me and Kali."

"Kali is your wife?"

"Yes."

"My home back home - I mean, back on Earth - is in Mumbai. South Mumbai. Where are you from?"

"Khalapur."

"You had one of those cubes in Khalapur?"

"Yes."

"And you didn"t run away? My cube appeared next to my house. All my neighbors simply disappeared."

"You were lucky."

"Why?"

"Mine didn"t. Not all of them. That was why we, Kali and I, had to move."

"Bad relations?"

"A gang took over our settlement. There were three of them. They turned me and Kali into their slaves. They kept threatening to **** Kali. So when we got the chance, we ran away."

"They didn"t chase you?"

"I don"t think so. They"d just brought in a couple more of their friends, and several women. They were too busy with the women to see us leave."

"You walked a fair distance."

"Yes, it took us a few days. It was very hard. But we wanted to get away as far as possible. We didn"t want them to find us."

"Very understandable."

"We found a good spot near the sh.o.r.e, next to a small river. There"s a coconut grove and mango trees and plenty of air potatoes. And good fish in the river."

"How do you catch them?"

"With a net."

"You have a net!?"

"Yes. Kali is good at making ropes and baskets. And I am good at making pots. We eat very well. Better than back home."

They both laughed. That was the turning point: that was when they became friends.

They spent some time comparing their experiences in the New World. Then Madan said:

"It will be dark soon. I must be going home. You probably want to get home, too."

"It"s too far away to get there before nightfall. I"ll just spend the night here, and go back tomorrow."

"Why don"t you come with me? You would probably like to eat a hot dinner. And you can sleep at our place."

Samir was overcome by emotion.

"Madan, my friend..." he said, and his voice broke.

They stood up and embraced. Samir felt tears p.r.i.c.kling his eyes. He said quickly:

"Lead the way. I promise to obey you. You are the leader."

Madan grinned happily and they set out, walking side by side.

They reached Madan"s settlement just as it was getting dark. Kali turned out to be a short, plump woman whose face was constantly split in a happy grin. A big clay pot of thick fish soup was bubbling on the fire. Madan, hadn"t lied: he and Kali really ate very well. And he was truly an accomplished potter. For the first time ever in the New World, Samir drank water from a cup, and poured himself more from a jug.

Madan and Kali"s hut was quite big and they actually invited Samir to sleep inside. But he decorously insisted on leaving their privacy undisturbed, and sleeping outside, under the starry sky. This improved relations even further.

By the time they had finished their meal, they were already talking about joining forces. By the time they broke up to go to sleep, they"d already agreed that"s what they would do. The only unresolved problem was the location of their new, expanded settlement.

Naturally, Madan preferred his site, and Samir - his own. They agreed that the next day, both Madan and Kali would accompany Samir and visit the site of his settlement. Then Samir would take Rani along to examine Madan"s place, and they would decide where to settle. And who knows: maybe they would find a site better than the other two on their journey?

As Samir lay on his back and watched the twinkling, beckoning stars, he felt more happy and optimistic than he"d ever been since his arrival in the New World.

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