Bepergians first few days out of the hut were a blur. After many attempts he he was able to coax his legs into standing and walking. He lurched around a bit for a couple of days. His legs acted as if he hadn't used them for weeks. Then he looked at the date on his watch. The alarm had gone off on the 20th of August. His last memory of date was mid June! He had been out of it for several weeks. At this point he was certain the Neanderthals had give him some concoction of herbs that kept him in a stupor until he healed. He was grateful for not having to remember the pain, but he did not like being out of it for that long.

Language remained a barrier. The Neanderthals certainly spoke but they also had a complex language of gestures. It reminded him of animals, mostly dogs and cats as those were animals he was the most familiar with. He considered the dog he had as a boy. He had always been amazed that it seemed to respond to his moods. If he were sad the dog would seem to mope with him in a sympathetic way, giving him sad looks. If he were excited the dog too would get excited. He knew that the dog could understand his body language, and to some extent he understood the dogs too, but it seemed as far as language he never completely understood the barks ... or did he? He knew when the dog wanted out, or wanted to play, or was hungry, so in some sense it was reasonable to assume he could understand the dogs body language as well.

At the moment Bepergian was sitting on a log in front of the hut he had been in for weeks. He observed the daily activities of the group and decided that he was all wrong in his methods for understanding and communicating. He was trying too hard to find a common thread in the language alone. For these people language was communicated via expression, emotion and gesture.

He picked up the stick he had been using to walk and stood up. He looked at the hut. From the outside it was small and crude with mud and grasses pressed into the cracks to keep out the rain. It was situated at the rocky base of a hill, just on the outskirts of the forest. In fact, it was nearly inside a cave like structure. A slab of rock jutted 10 meters above the cluster of huts. A slight depression in the hill under the slab gave it any walls at all. Because of the slab, Climbing up the hill behind the village was impossible without skirting around the forest. It made the entrance into the village one way.

The village was in a clearing of the forest. The clearing had been created by the Neanderthals. Old tree stumps dotted the area. Most were used in some fashion as chairs and tables. One particularly large stump had been hollowed and lined with with rocks. This they used for the community fire pit. In a circle around the edge of the clearing the Neanderthals had placed a crude fence. It was made up of saplings and vines woven together and then tied to trees at the perimeter. It stood about 5 meters high. He wagered that it wouldn't keep a determined dinosaur out, but it would probably slow it down. The trees of the forest were giant deciduous trees with a dense canopy. The sounds of birds and other animals filtered down to the clearing.

The community had the feel of a clan. Everyone had a role. He had obviously been placed in the care of the healer. They all regarded him with shy curiosity. If he could talk he was sure they would be asking him all sorts of questions.

He went into the hut. After he regained the use of his legs he had started looking for his things. He quickly found them neatly piled on the floor at the end of the 'cot' he had been sleeping on. Aside from the cut straps, and a few teeth marks, his backpack otherwise intact. His pants were there as well and he wrestled them on to the amusement of his nurse. She laughed heartily at his struggle. Several times he cursed the ridiculousness of his reluctant legs.