So Much to Learn (Caveman Chronicles)

The Index -|-

Kpleeb’s excitement grew as his conversations with Thoka continued. Not only was he starving for cavehuman interaction, but her big, brown eyes glowed with a certain fascinating intelligence. It was clear to him that her mind worked at super speed, and Kpleeb felt challenged by the way she constantly probed at everything she encountered. He also felt stimulated in ways that he had never experienced before, and he could not define what it was that he felt.

“Before I came here, I just wanted to be a rock carver like my friend, Pfftul,” Kpleeb said. “Now, I feel that I could be more. I am not suited to be a warrior.”

Thoka nodded. “I understand your feelings. These caves have opened my eyes. I am not sure yet what the answers are, but I believe that I will discover great things here.”

Kpleeb felt outclassed when she talked this way, even after a few hours of non-stop chatter about their childhoods and everything else. [She is extraordinary!] Her pale hair in particular intrigued him.

“Why is your hair so pale?” he said abruptly. Being that he was so unused to people, the interruption took a moment to set in. “Sorry… Urh, it is just that in the canyon river tribe, and every other tribe that I have encountered, the hair is like mine.” He ruffled his shaggy bangs. “It is brown. Just brown. The only person I ever saw that had hair similar to yours was a death-white that passed through riding a tundra yak when I was just a cave-child.”

“Death-white?” Thoka asked. Is it a person or…?” She looked in askance at him.

“It is a person just us but the hair and skin are all very white, and the eyes are a bright blue. My mam told me that they are touched by evil before they are born.” Kpleeb paused. “What I remember was that her yak had many silvery items hanging from its mane, and it tinkled when it moved.”

“Impossible to sneak with a yak like that,” commented Thoka.

“She smiled at me,” said Kpleeb, “and I remember that her teeth were perfect.” He shuddered with involuntary fear. “No one has teeth like that unless they are evil.”

Thoka smiled at him, and Kpleeb noticed how clean her teeth were. [They’re not perfect, though. Just clean. It’s different.]

“How do you keep your hair so clean in this cave?”

“I just wash it in the water basin.” She pointed at the waterfall.

“But it’s so straight!”

“I do comb it, and it helps that my hair is very fine and straight on its own.” She walked to a shelf above the food outcropping and picked up a piece of stone that had been shaped into a flat hand with many small and parallel fingers. “This is my comb.” She demonstrated by carefully pulling the comb through her hair.

Kpleeb blurted without thinking. “Wow, you are so smart!”

“I am not stupid and neither are you. People have different types of smartness. You will see.”

Kpleeb was not so sure, but he knew that one sure way to impress people was to act as if he was sure about something.

After returning her comb to its resting place, Thoka turned and sat on an upright stone next to the food outcropping. “Cave. Make a new seat here.” She pointed with her fingertip at the floor a meter away from the existing seat. “Knee high.”

The floor began to bulge and slowly the stone formed.

“This cave is wonderful,” said Kpleeb. “I wonder if the caves back in the canyon would also respond in this way?”

“I do not think so,” said Thoka. “I find it interesting that almost everything we talk about revolves around our life before cave and after cave. It is hard to ignore the fact that this is an important time in our life. We must use it!”

Kpleeb nodded. “I do not understand why we are here, but I am sure that these gods or spirits have something to do with it. I will escape and make them pay if I can.”

Thoka looked thoughtful. “Have you not tried to escape?”

“I tried everything. Everything in the cave is surrounded by the gray stone. The sun is protected, and there is nowhere else to look. I will keep trying. Maybe I am just not smart enough.”

“Did you ever wake up with a sting in the back of your head?” She gently placed her hand on the back of her own neck.

“I did at least two times,” Kpleeb said. “Maybe three. Why?”

“It was the same for me as well. Can you tell me which day-marks were created on those days?” She stood and walked to her marking wall.

Kpleeb followed. On the wall were a great many very small marks in groups of five. Thoka touched the wall, and he noticed that the markings were only as large as the tip of her smallest finger.

“This is my method of counting by fives.” She held up her hand. “It is logical because we have five toes and fingers.”

“I knew a guy back home that had six toes on one foot,” said Kpleeb.

Thoka ignored his comment and pointed at several marks that were elongated. “These are when I woke with the neck sting.” There were four special marks and the last one was six five-groups in the past.

Kpleeb had never considered making a special note of those days, but he put his hand up to his neck. “I did not mark those events, but the last one was not very long ago. Maybe four or five sun-cycle- urh, days ago.”

Thoka had that look in her eye again. “Do you feel smarter?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you feel smarter now than before?” She smiled faintly. “Even a little.”

When he thought about it, Kpleeb realized that he had enjoyed moments of clarity recently that he was unaccustomed to. He had thought of new ideas, new ways to test the cave, and build items out of stone.

“I do feel smarter,” he said uncertainly.

“Tell me how. Talking through it will help you remember.”

Kpleeb pondered his answer for a long moment before speaking. “I spoke to the cave many sun-cycles past and understood that it would obey me. But… I did not think of how to use that obedience for many more sun-cycles.”

“Days,” said Thoka.

“Yes, many days. It was not until very recently that I began to feel as it my mind was seeing new ideas for the first time. It was then that I began to really explore my cave and try new things. I created a flat and shiny surface to figure out what was at the bottom of the defecation pit. I build the table and a spear too.”

“Did that come after a neck sting?”

He shrugged. “I do not know exactly. Perhaps it did. Why?”

Thoka pointed at the second of her elongated marks. “I experienced the same thing here, many days ago. At first, I felt sluggish and achy, but after a day or two, understanding became easy. I began to see patterns that I had not recognized before.” She pointed at the waterfall. “This waterfall was one of my ideas at that time, but now it seems so simple!”

“It is a very clever thing,” said Kpleeb glowingly.

“It is clever, but not very.” She pointed at her defecation pit. “I made the seat next. It was so high and uncomfortable, and now it seems an obvious change.” She began to point at the elongated marks in sequence. “Spear. Waterfall, defecation pit and shelving. Comb, and here I also found the gray stone. After a few days I began testing its properties. And finally, this last neck sting I thought of the five-group math.”

Kpleeb’s mind was swimming with confusion and disjointed thoughts. It was almost too much, but he fastened onto one question. “What do you mean, you tested the gray stone?”

“Kpleeb, you said yourself that there is no way out of this cave. The gray stone is absolutely impervious to any command or attack. I have found this to be true so far, but I have tried many things.” She walked to the far wall and pointed at a spot on the floor.

“Make a small hole here, as big as two of my hands.”

The hole formed.

When Kpleeb looked, he said that the small hole – only a little bigger than his arm – opened into a wider chamber below it. At the bottom of the chamber were many small divots in the stone, and each one held a liquid or a dried-up remnant of substance.

“This is my test,” said Thoka. “At the bottom of each indention is gray stone. I put water in one, worm goo in one, and many other things.”

“But why?”

“Water drops can smooth and change stone over time. We have a fruit that grows on the wet mountains that burns the tongue. I asked for that.” She pointed at a crusty, red divot. “I hoped that it would burn the stone, but it has only been almost thirty days, and nothing has happened.”

Kpleeb at least understood that. “Many years are needed for a waterfall to carve a path in stone.”

Thoka nodded. “Close the hole.”

Kpleeb stood and cracked his back. “You are very smart and have not found any way to escape. Did you close the hole to prevent the night mist from changing the test?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile. “See? You are smarter than you realize. We maybe never escape, but I will keep trying.” She returned to the food outcropping and drank water. “Would you like some?”

Kpleeb was famished and noticed that the sun had dimmed a little. “Yes. Meat.” He listened and ate while she talked.

“With each neck sting I became smarter, and I believe you did as well. Some of them were a very small change. Sometimes I felt achy and foggy after waking, but each time I noticed some small ability to see more with my mind. I realize now that the power to shape with my hand follows what I first shape with my mind.”

“How can this be?” mumbled Kpleeb around his food. “A sting that makes you smarter?”

“We will talk about the deeper subject later.”

“Why? If you know, I would like to understand as well.”

Thoka paused and looked patiently at him. “I hope you can accept this. If I pour my beliefs into you, you may believe them to be fact. The truth is, Kpleeb, I am not smart enough.”

“This is not true,” he protested. “Look at all you know and have done!”

“I can sense that there is a greater meaning in all of this. I know there is, but I cannot piece together the meaning yet. In this way, I know that I, –we-, have more to learn. You must not accept my words as fact!” She looked very adamant. “Not ever.”

Kpleeb was thoroughly confused. “Then how can I learn?”

“Spend time here. Let me show you my math, and some ideas that I have. Once you have learned what I have learned, we can work together to puzzle out the bigger questions.”

He saw that there was not much of a choice. “Okay, I am eager to learn.”

Thoka smiled at him. “It is time for me to sleep, and you must go to your own cave.”

“It is early still,” said Kpleeb.

“I sleep early and wake early.”

With reluctance Kpleeb took his swirling thoughts, his burning curiosity, and palpable excitement through the gap in the gray stone and turned.

“I will see you tomorrow,” he said.

Thoka nodded.

“Cave, close the gap.”