Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Thirteen

After walking for several hours, Kyodin and Alex decided to stop and set up camp. Aside from the morning when they had engaged in combat, she had a great day spending time with her little brother. They had talked for hours, mostly about the differences in life on the two planets. It made the time fly. Now that it was getting dark, the two settled in for the night under a protective force field.

"You hungry?" Kyodin asked.

"Yes, I'm starving."

"Good, because I have a special treat for us."

Kyodin pulled out some kind of animal from his bag. In fact, it looked like a long furry tail from a large animal. Alex had a look of apprehension on her face.

"What the heck is that thing?" she asked.

"It's a woozie-waller. I was fortunate enough to catch it this morning right before I found you. Don't they have these on Earth?"

"It looks like a furry snake," Alex said.

"What's a snake?"

"It's like that thing you're holding, only it has scaly skin."

"Are they delicious?"

"I don't know, I've never tried snake before."

"Well, you're in for a treat because woozie-wallers are delicious. They might be my favourite. Either them or bollywickle."

"What's a bollywickle?"

"It's a large, lazy animal that grazes in a field and eats mostly grass."

"Like a cow?"

"I'm not sure, which ones are those?"

"It sounds like what you just described."

Alex had downloaded multiple lessons on survival and wanted to make herself useful so she offered to make a fire.

"That won't be necessary," Kyodin said. "Check this out."

Kyodin seemed to get joy out of showing off his gadgets and seeing Alex's face light up with curiosity and fascination. He had a very different way of camping than what Alex was used to. Instead of needing a fire, he had a small device that provided enough heat to keep them warm, provide them light, and cook their food. The device was expandable and didn't take up a lot of space. Once fully assembled, it only stood about a foot off the ground. It gave off a soothing blue light, which was made from an ionic energy.

"How does this device work?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure," Kyodin responded. "I don't really understand how a lot of this technology works. You obviously have a very curious mind, and that's great, but I'm not the guy to ask about this stuff. I'm more of a hunter. You can ask my dad... I mean, our dad... when we get back home."

Alex helped Kyodin strip off the fur of the woozie-waller and prepare it for cooking. Skewered on a long piece of metal, the snake-like creature began to cook over the portable heating device.

When it was time to eat, Alex dove in unrelentingly. The meat was chewy and tasted a bit funky, but she was too hungry to care. The two continued to talk as they ate.

"My dad said he was the Leader of the planet where he's from, was that true?"

"Yes, but he was an elected official. It's not like he was some kind of god. People are flawed and while he may seem like a hero in your eyes, you need to understand that there's much more to him than what he shows you."

"Really, like what?"

"There's nothing specific that I can think of, I just want you to be open minded. You've been raised with very a limited perspective. On Earth we call that living a sheltered existence, or being trapped in a bubble."

"Bubble," Kyodin giggled. "I've never heard that word before. I like that."

"Do you know what a bubble is?"

"No, but it's fun to say — bubble," he laughed again. "Can I call you bubble?"

"Definitely not," Alex said.

"Why not?"

"Because that's not my name."

"Why can't we change your name to bubble?"

"It's important that we all agree on the same naming convention for things and not constantly change them. Otherwise it would be confusing and communication between people would break down."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, suppose one day this animal was called a woozie-waller, and the next day it's called a furry snake, and then a week after that it's called a fuzzy tail. Do you understand how that could be problematic?"

"I guess so. Nobody would know what anyone was referring to."

"Exactly. So I'll be Alex, you'll be Kyodin, and this will be a woozie-waller," Alex said, taking another bite.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," Kyodin bowed his head in shame. He seemed genuinely sad.

"It's okay, I'm not upset. It has just been a long day for me and I'm not exactly feeling like myself."

After dinner, Alex and Kyodin settled into their separate air beds. Levitating a few feet off the ground felt a bit strange at first, but Alex eventually settled in and became used to it. It was a strange dichotomy having such advanced technology in the middle of the jungle. With the force field protecting her, and with food in her stomach, she felt more relaxed than she had in the past few days.

Alex stared up at the stars and tried her best to drown out the incessant jungle noise. She was less worried about them than she did the previous night, but they still kept her awake. The various chirps, squawks, and humming sounds were easier to ignore, but every so often a snapping branch or a bone-chilling scream would cause the hairs on her arms and neck to stand up. Focusing on routine patterns of thought such as thinking about Milo and the others back home, Alex once again settled her nerves and began to concentrate.

"Alex?" Kyodin said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Remember what you said about questioning the source of your information?"

"Yeah."

"You got me thinking. I've only ever had one source of information and if it turned out to be unreliable, I would have no idea. It's making me question a lot of things."

"It's good to question things, it's called thinking critically."

"What does it mean?"

"It just means thinking clearly, rationally, and independently, and not just accepting information at face value. Socrates once said, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'."

"Is he a friend of yours?"

Alex laughed. "No, he's a very famous philosopher who was presumed to have lived on Earth over two-thousand years ago."

"What does he mean by 'the unexamined life is not worth living'?"

"Socrates believed the best way to achieve personal and spiritual development was to constantly examine and question our lives. By doing so, we can challenge assumptions and acquire a richer understanding of our true nature. We may discover underneath it all, we are just a series of behavioural patterns and subconscious programming. So instead of riding on this momentum of unconscious repetition, we become aware of these patterns and make changes that will ultimately improve our lives and make us happy. Through this process, we may even find our true purpose in life."

Alex didn't hear a response from Kyodin, and when she looked over at him, she saw that his eyes were closed. Her initial thought was that he was in a state of deep reflection on his life... until she heard him snoring. Adjusting herself to get comfortable, Alex closed her eyes and reflected on her own life. In those moments before sleep consumed her, she was thankful that she had survived another day.