Civilization - Scene 2

C2 Scene 2

The gang traveled to where the brook joined the river and realized that they needed to look for a crossing.  Although the river didn't look like it was flowing very swiftly nor was it very wide, they were not sure that they should attempt wading across.  As they had all learnt during English lessons - Still waters run deep.  The river was clear and the pebbles on the bottom could be clearly seen.  This was a far cry from the man-made storm drains and concrete reinforced rivers back home.

Ben knelt down by the river and dipped his hands into the water.  It was nice and cool. 

"Wah, this water's really tempting.  I feel like going in for a dip," he said. 

 "Yeah, I guess this should be upstream so its ok eh?" James responded.  

Ben laughed, "Less chance of a UFO encounter huh?"

"UFO?" Edwin asked.

"Yeah, Unidentified Floating Object. Aka 'sai'," Ben answered.

"Well, the city's pretty far off and its almost midday, I think we might want to find our bridge quickly so that we can get to the city before the gates close," Castor said.

"Either bridge or river ferry. Y'know, like we always see in kung-fu movies?" Vince added.

"Yup.  Let's go," CK said.

 

The gang walked on for about 5 minutes when suddenly Ben stopped again.  

"What now?" Vince asked.  

"I just thought of something.  Chew-kor was floating in the cave just now right? So why can't we all just use our 'qinggong' and walk on water? You know, like 'cao shang fei'," Ben said.

"That's a good idea, except 'cao shang fei' is 'flying on grass tips', that's water we're trying to cross," Vince chided.  'Qinggong' is the generic term any form of martial art ability regarding movement - either in speed or weightlessness. Vince was something of a fan of kung-fu novels so he had done some research and was considered the gang's authority on things Chinese.

"I know! then we can use 'qing ting dian shui'!" Ben exclaimed, "'dragonfly touches the water surface', is an appropriate skill."

"Oh man, why are we having this discussion?" CK asked, "it's not like we know any of those skills! We're not in the cave anymore."

"Also, maybe its not so wise to show off what we can do. It might attract unwanted attention." Castor added, before walking on.  The rest followed.

"There really isn't anyone around to notice us.  I'm sure its worth the try," Ben said as he walked beside Castor.

Edwin, who was just behind, said, "But what if you failed to clear the river in a single bound? Or your light as a dragonfly's touch on the surface doesn't give you enough tension to spring forward? How are we going to fish you out?"

Ben turned to Edwin and pouted playfully, "Then I get the dip I wanted."

"If you want a dip so bad, we could just push you in," Castor said and gave Ben a shove.

Ben regained his balance and laughed along with the others.

 

"Yo, guys, we got company."

James' remark sobered the gang a little. They had crested a small rise and arrived at a well-used track. A single horse drawn cart was cantering toward them.  They stared curiously at the driver and his passenger.

 

Civilisation - Scene 1

Scene 1

Leaving the mountains behind, the gang trekked steadily down the lower hills toward the city.  The valley was lush and green.  A short distance away, a brook made its way down to the the valley floor where it joined a river that flowed through the city.

Between them, they had the clothes they were wearing, the six laser guns with harness and the ability to use some sort of internal energy, like 'qi', to enable them to move faster, hit harder or expel it like a Jedi Force Push.

The downside to this ability was hat they didn't know how long it would last or whether the energy would recover itself if depleted.

"Well, since we're here we might as well enjoy it," Castor said.

"Dude, we should be trying to find a way to get back home," CK replied.

"Yeah, but we're stuck here till then, ain't we? And its not like we have any idea where 'here' is!" Castor retorted.

"Eh, we also might want to figure out what language we're going to use," Vincent added, "I'm not sure if they speak our kind of Mandarin or some early dialect."

The gang stopped.

That was a question they hadn't seriously considered.  Were they in Qing Dynasty China?  The soldiers they had encountered earlier wore uniforms that looked like they were from the Qing period.  How were they going to communicate?  Being Singaporean had its advantages.  To a certain extent, they were somewhat multi-lingual.  Mandarin and English came easily to them.  Furthermore, between the six of them, they also understood and spoke some Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and a wee bit of Japanese and Malay.

"Well, assuming we're still in China.." Ben started speaking.

"Assuming, we arrived in China in the first place," James interrupted.

"Ya, there's no way of telling whether that blinding flash of light sent us to another dimension or just back in time," Vincent added

"So, that's the first thing we need to do," Edwin concluded, "find out where we actually are!"

The others nodded in agreement and the gang set off once more toward the city; toward civilization.  At least, they hoped the people were civilized.