Free Extreme Difference by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton Page B

odours, until they came to the cave where the scavenged cast off's of the Great Light were stored.
    ‘Don’t show too much interest in anything you think would be useful, as it will weaken our bargaining power.’ Sandy muttered to Ben, whose eyes had already lit up at the sight of so much metal.
    ‘We can only spare three boxes and their plants.’ Sandy offered, lightly treading on Ben’s foot as he opened his mouth to correct the quotation.
    The head of their clan had now joined the group, which brought them all into even closer proximity, and thereby intensified the aroma of long unwashed bodies.
    ‘What’s this?’ asked Sandy, pointing to a very large bale of fine cloth lying in a corner of the cave, partly covered by thin sheets of metal which had been randomly thrown down.
    ‘That’s metal from the Great Light,’ the translator said, ‘that other stuff we got from a group who didn’t wan’ it.’
    ‘What do you use that stuff for?’ enquired Sandy, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
    ‘We don’t,’ came the reply, ‘tident no use to us, it’s too soft ’an fine.’ Sandy marked it down mentally as an almost free gift, if he played his cards right. They continued to rummage through the junk piles which had collected over the years, Sandy looking for metal tools and blades.
    ‘We’ll have to go soon,’ Ben straightened his back with a loud click, ‘the sun’ll be up over the top of the rim, and then we’ll have to stay here ’till evening.’
    The threat of staying for a full day was enough for Sandy, and he began to gather together the items he thought would be of most use to them. The actual bargaining took longer than they had anticipated, as everything had to be translated via the man with the strange accent to the chief, and back again, also the chief proved to be a little more canny than they had expected.
    In the end, they acquired a collection of flat pieces of metal, some wire of different thicknesses', various bits of plastic, and the huge roll of cloth was thrown in for good measure, as Sandy had predicted it would be.
    The main sticking point in the transaction was a metal cylinder, with what looked like a pump attached to it.
    In his eagerness to acquire it, he had been unable to disguise his interest in the piece of machinery, and so the ‘price’ went up. In the end, after much haggling, it was agreed that an extra growing bin would be exchanged for the cylinder and its attachments. Ben grinned to himself at Sandy’s astuteness and foresight.
    As the raided group would have to collect the growing bins from Nan’s caves, and would have to go over there anyway, it was agreed that they would help transport Sandy’s collection of materials as they went, and so the party set off, with the full sun just breaking the highest peaks.
    As they rounded a small peninsula of rock which jutted out into the sands, a piece of sheet metal fell out of the over filled arms of one of the men. Before he could readjust his load and stoop down to retrieve it, it disappeared in a flurry of sand, as something below sensed a meal.
    Everyone promptly leapt for solid rock, dropping several items in the rush for safety. They had barely turned around to see what had happened to it, when it came flying out with a flurry of sand to land at their feet.
    It was a badly shaken little band of men, which after very carefully retrieving their goods, continued along the edge of the sands towards Nan’s cave complex, reaching it just before the full blast of the naked sun hit the area.
    Nan was none too pleased when he realized that the eight strangers, only one of whom spoke their language, would have to stay until the evening, as the sun was now bathing the crater with its full brilliance, and travel across it would mean certain death to anyone who tried.
    Two other things were cause for concern, they would have to feed the strangers at midday, and the motley band were several grades up the rancid scale