{"id":2772,"date":"2025-04-13T14:34:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2772"},"modified":"2025-04-13T14:34:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:34:59","slug":"anomaly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/13\/anomaly\/","title":{"rendered":"Anomaly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Center your story around two (or more) characters who strike up an unlikely friendship.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra pulled on the new over-tunic he\u2019d grown from the soft, strong fibers of civilian-grade cloth bacterium. Growing clothes was one of the skills every man picked up during military service, along with cooking, housekeeping, gardening, and killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deep blue stripes on the sleeves and around the neckline accented his pale skin, making the blue undertones more pronounced. It reflected in his eyes, making the light grey appear blue. His tar-black hair was tied back in a professional bun exposing his tall ear points. He\u2019d cut it all off once but got tired of being labeled as \u201cwomanish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were worse research assignments, Kaidra was certain, but he couldn\u2019t figure out what they would be. Why did he get stuck with the smelly beasts? He had asked to be on the team that was uncovering what may well be the lost city of Ublar. The chance to explore the oldest known writing would have been\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra shook his head to clear it \u2014 hard enough to feel it in the points of his ears. The others his age were twelve years ahead of him in their career. He had a job, and he would do it. As a linguist, he would learn the language of the brutes. What good it would do was anyone\u2019s guess, but they had nothing to offer modern civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d followed in his great-grandmother\u2019s footsteps. Her stories about decoding the language of honey bees in their dances had enticed him. That, and the shiny, gold plaque that marked her as a winner of the highest honor in the sciences. He told her he wanted to win one, and she said he might just be the first man to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Times had changed since then. Men were allowed into the sciences and medicine, allowed to vote, and began to hold positions of power, including in government. The masculinist movement had taken decades to reach the place it was at, and it wasn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the anti-masculinists\u2019 biggest bogeyman hadn\u2019t happened; no draft for women appeared. There were no more women in the modern military than there had been in his great-grandmother\u2019s day. Kaidra, like all men, had been drafted to serve twelve years in the military. That meant he was still on the bottom of the pile and forced to take whatever he got. Besides that, there was still a chance his great-grandmother might be right about him being the first male to win a Bright Oak Commendation for Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physicists were still puzzling over the anomaly. It opened their world to that of the crude creatures he was to study. Whether it was a wormhole to another galaxy, or a rift between universes was still up for debate. What wasn\u2019t up for debate was the near-perfect match between their world and the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-four-hour days, 365.2422 days per year, and a matching latitude of the anomaly on the two worlds. The biggest difference was the climate. The other world was hotter with wilder weather. It was believed this was due to the pollution the beasts had poisoned their air with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra took a deep breath and stepped through the anomaly. The heat hit him like a hammer. There were no trees here to shade the summer sun, and the strange black, synthetic surface the beasts had covered the ground with stored and radiated the heat in waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beasts had grown a fence around the anomaly. Built<\/em>, he reminded himself. They didn\u2019t have the technology to grow even the simplest tools, much less infrastructure. There was some sort of structure inside the fence, but the walls were straight and the corners sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the beasts motioned him toward the structure. Kaidra knew from those that had come before him, that the things they had their hands on at their hips were weapons. He entered the structure and was met with a cool breeze. The air inside was far more comfortable than that outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was greeted by one of the creatures. Based on the animalistic fur on its face, it was an adult male that wore its hair short, like a woman. The clothes it wore looked like nothing Kaidra could grow. The artificial furnishings together with the creature and the inorganic walls gave the whole thing an uncanny, off-kilter feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took some miming, but they finally learned the other\u2019s name. Kaidra struggled to say the creature\u2019s name, \u201cJim,\u201d but once he found the trick to making the first sound, he had it down pat. For the creature\u2019s part, he had no trouble saying Kaidra\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim wrote out both names and showed Kaidra the letters in a beginning reader that started with the alphabet. With a lot of miming and example, Jim showed Kaidra how to use a device that played sounds and showed images and text to go with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the device, Jim gave Kaidra the beginning reader, and a huge book that was not grown and written but built<\/em>. What it was built from was beyond his reasoning, but it felt like a sturdier wasp nest. Maybe from wood pulp?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the way the text appeared in the book, it was likely a lexicon. Kaidra was holding a linguist\u2019s dream. They may be barely civilized animals, but they had a rich, well-formed language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim made two cups of something he called \u201ctea\u201d and offered one to Kaidra. He watched as Jim sipped at his and followed suit. It was slightly acidic, with an odd tang. Jim offered a white, glistening powder to mix in, but Kaidra wasn\u2019t sure. Then, he offered something Kaidra recognized, honey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After adding a generous dollop of honey and mixing it in, Kaidra found the hot drink pleasant. He still didn\u2019t trust the beastly thing, and the beast\u2019s mistrust was plain on his brute face. At least it was a male, though. Kaidra thought the creatures probably gave the job to a male since they felt it was as unimportant as his people did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim let him keep the books and device, and Kaidra spent every waking moment burying himself in the language of the beasts. Daily visits that started with trying to find words for things around them, turned into broken conversation. Over the course of nearly two months, that turned into casual conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim was gruff, as Kaidra expected of a beast, but not violent. This day, however, he was being curt, and waves of annoyance radiated from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra looked at him. \u201cWhat is the wrong, Jim?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong? The goddamn Army\u2019s kicking me out of here.\u201d Jim sighed. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, K, didn\u2019t mean to take it out on you. The physicists are coming next week with some top-secret equipment to measure the anomaly \u2014 again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis angry you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHell, yeah, it does. It means at least two weeks where we can\u2019t see each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not know you happy when I here are,\u201d Kaidra said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHeh. Guess I\u2019m not all that friendly,\u201d Jim said, \u201cbut I do enjoy your company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we males, must do female orders.\u201d Kaidra sighed. \u201cWe am both here because we am male, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra explained, as best he could, about his culture. The more he explained, the more surprised Jim seemed. Surprise turned into agitation and then anger when Kaidra explained the twelve years mandatory service for all men, and the fact that all the officers and commanders were women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have it the opposite here,\u201d Jim said, \u201cbut women\u2019s rights are far better than they were in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou not forced here?\u201d Kaidra asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Jim said, \u201cnot at all. I just wanted a chance to talk to a distant cousin, get to know them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCousin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe ran DNA on the first few of your kind to cross the anomaly. We\u2019re more closely related to you than to chimps and bonobos.\u201d Jim pulled up an online entry on Kaidra\u2019s people. \u201cSee here, they\u2019ve named your species Homo tolkiensis after Tolkien, a writer, since you look exactly like the elves he wrote about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut, how?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the physicists are coming here to figure out. At some point in the past, the anomaly was open, then it was closed, we guess around 1.4 million years ago, based on genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, how writer know about people?\u201d Kaidra asked, pointing at himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, no one knows.\u201d Jim shrugged. \u201cMy guess is that the anomaly opens up from time to time, and stories get passed down about whatever comes through, whether it\u2019s elves or humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake smart, I guess.\u201d Kaidra poured tea for both of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMakes sense<\/em>,\u201d Jim said. \u201cWhat kind of stories do your people have about mythical creatures?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have story hairy brute animals people. Take food, eat babies, kill many.\u201d Kaidra looked down into his cup of tea. \u201cYou look like. But not like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, not like.\u201d Jim sighed, then in Kaidra\u2019s language said, \u201cSorry I am<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaidra\u2019s head popped up at the sound of his language coming from Jim. He switched to his native tongue and asked, \u201cWhen did you learn that<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim smiled and answered back in the same language. \u201cGood listen I do.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borrowing a phrase from Jim, Kaidra raised his cup and said, \u201cGoddamn right!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoddamn right!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They drank in silence for several long minutes before Kaidra set down his cup and looked at the almost man across the table from him. \u201cThis order bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery much so. However,\u201d Jim said, \u201cis there anywhere in your world I can stay while the anomaly is off-limits? I\u2019d very much like to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrue? Jim come to people world?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes.\u201d Jim pointed to a bag behind himself. \u201cI\u2019m already packed, including plenty of tea. I promise I won\u2019t eat any babies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. I grow you shirt,\u201d Kaidra tugged at his tunic, \u201cand we talk more lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI look forward to it, and to learning more about the people and your technology.\u201d Jim smiled. \u201cI\u2019m a biologist, so I\u2019m keenly interested in how you grow everything you need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Center your story around two (or more) characters who strike up an unlikely friendship. available at Reedsy Kaidra pulled on the new over-tunic he\u2019d grown from the soft, strong fibers of civilian-grade cloth bacterium. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[216,210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sxT7i-anomaly","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2773,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions\/2773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}