Sheeba: The Life Story of an Abandoned Norn

Chapter Three

We were having one of our quad-daily meals when it happened. Kim had just found a new kind of fruit. It was not edible, but when dropped split apart releasing edible seeds inside. The stone had no data on it, so Kim came up with the name Pumpersickel.
    "You always had been good with names" I commented as I bit into an apple and let the juice dribble down my furry chin. Kim smiled and took a bite of an unusually large carrot he found.
    "Speaking of names. . ."
    "Oh come off it. I'm still thinking about it."
    "What I was about to say was that I thought of possible name. . ."
    "Bring it on."
    "Named after out creators, Shee. . ."
    Just at that moment a putrid smell wafted into the area. We both choked on our food, causing Kim to make the ending on the word completely different then what he had wanted to see. Coincidently, he also invented the first Nornian curse-word.
    "What is that horrid smell?"
    Sweat poured down my back. Kim had no idea what he was in for.
    "Run!"
    "What?"
    "JUST RUN!!!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him away just as a Grendel leaped out of the bushed and pushed his needle-sharp horn into the very ground which Kim was sitting on. We ran.
    "So. . .," he panted, "that's what a Grendel looks like."
    "Just Run!"
    We came to a strange stone statue which we have never seen before. There was nothing beyond it except a clear wall, revealing the stars just outside the ship. We were trapped. The smell of rotten eggs came closer and closer. . ..
    "This is no time to panic" cooed Kim, with plenty of panic in his own voice.
    "Do you have a better idea?!?" I said, quite hysterical. Kim was examining the statue. "What are you doing? This is no time to. . ." A hidden door opened, Kim pulled me inside, and it slid shut. Angry guttural noises seeped through the closed stone door. Inside was a plain wooden desk, lit by a candle. The hand was reading something on it.
    "Hand! Grendel. . .attack. . .fear. . ." Kim stepped up and explained in a manner that made a bit more sense. The hand nodded. Yes, nodded. I swore that somehow, it made a bobbing motion exactly like nodding.
    "I have an idea" It said in it's metallic non-voice. "Stay to the side." We did. The Grendel was attempting to ram the stone wall down. The hand opened it just as the Grendel was in a charge. It ran straight into the wall and was rendered unconscious. We promptly beat it to death and cheered.
    At that exact moment dozens of Grendels appeared right outside the door. We closed it.
    "This isn't good" Kim commented matter-of-factly. Suddenly. . .
    "Oooooga exmly Booop!" We stared at each other. None of us had said that. Disgruntled noises came from outside, followed promptly by screams. The ground vibrated. The screaming continued, half war-cries, half cries of pain. Slowly it died out. We opened the door. An ape-like creature stumbled over hundreds of dead bodies, cried out, and collapsed at the door.  The Ettin that had collapsed at the door was the only one left alive among hundreds of others. We continued our lives, the Ettin did not wake up. The hand assured us that it was indeed, alive.
    I had asked the hand what it was that was on the table. He merely said that it was research, and changed the topic. I had a strong presumption that for some reason he did not want us to know. The hand forbid us from going back to the statue withought it accompanying us.
    Two weeks later there was great commotion in the Terrarium. The hand rushed us to his "workshop" in the statue. The Ettin has woken. She was as ignorant to our language as I was. When we used the knowledge stone, she learned it, but still she did not have our intellect. Her name was Ringo. She quickly adapted to our culture, but she was, as Kim put it, "extremely thick-headed". It took four days for her to understand how birds stayed in the air. After she learned, it took her another week to understand how we stood on the ground. We did not show her the fish pond for obvious reasons.
    By the way, Kim told me the name that he was thinking of. Sheeba. I agreed that it was a nice name. Ringo disagreed, we told her that Ringo was nothing to be proud of, so she shouldn't talk. She ran away crying. She came back one hour later with seemingly no recollection as to what happened.
    As for the Grendels, we have wiped out their population, so they won't be a problem. For now. . .

Keep your eyes open for Chapter 4!