Days of restless sleep ended as the young Lieutenant forced his eyes open. The gloom provided little visibility, but he could make out the wood of the walls and a few streams of light peeking through the heavy curtain of a window above his head. Wishing to get more light, he tried to reach up and open the curtain, only to find his body crippled with stabbing pain. His muscles were still virtually immobile, despite the return of his mental faculties.

Being stuck here, unable to even sit up, was driving him mad.

The silence was soon ended by the opening of a door. Nathaniel turned his head right to see the creature that now shared the room with him. It was one of those humanoid lizards, the fearful reptiles that he'd been avoiding for days.

Apparently, his flesh wasn't up to meeting their culinary standards. He was thankful for that.

The lizard creature crept over to him, and as it grew closer Nathaniel realized how close he was to the ground. The bed was almost level with the floor, giving him an awkward view of things. Still, the cushioning under his feeble form was soft and comfortable.

The lizard pulled open the curtain, allowing morning light to shine into the small bedchamber, giving Lieutenant Carr his first good look at the natives of this world. The green-scaled reptile, with reddish brown highlights on the face and hands, was not quite as frightening as the distant workers had appeared days ago. It was still a strange, alien being, but by no means a monster.

"Hausk sssrisk kahn net," the creature hissed in its native language.

Nathaniel cleared his throat and tried to reply. "I'm sorry, I don't understand," he said.

The lizard turned from the Lieutenant and shouted loudly toward the open door, drawing the attention of another of its kind. The new lizard was a little larger than the first, and had a more uniform, Green complexion, and rounder features. Nathaniel also noticed it lacked the row of barbs along the shoulders that the original had, perhaps denoting a gender difference.

The two lizards talked to each other in the alien tongue, hissing and grumbling at one another in tones that were sharp and distinguishable to human ears.

Struggling to raise his right arm, Nathaniel slid it out from under the heavy quilt and raised it to his mouth, motioning for a drink. "Water," he said several times, hoping the creatures would understand.

The smaller lizard grabbed a wooden cup off of a small table nearby and handed it to Nathaniel.

His weak hand gripped it as tightly as possible, and he struggled up into a sitting position. Tasting the water, he could tell it wasn't clean. There was a trace of soil in the liquid, but it still felt good on his throat, so he drank it all before handing it back.

"Walter," the creature said, taking the empty cup.

"Water," Nathaniel replied, accentuating the word.

The creatures practiced the word several times until each figured out how to pronounce it. When they each said it properly, they smiled with their jagged teeth in satisfaction.