Dan Simmons - The Terror

His host was pointing toward different delicacies. Pointing at the fish, Inuk Tikerqat said, “ Eqaluk ,” in the slow, patient tones an adult uses with a child. Toward slabs of seal meat and blubber, “ Nat-suk .” Toward larger and more solidly frozen slabs of a darker meat, “ Oo ming-mite .”

Irving nodded. He was embarrassed that his mouth had suddenly filled with saliva. Not sure if he was just supposed to admire the cache of food or choose from it, he pointed diffidently at the seal meat.

“ Ee ! ” Mr. Tikerqat said again. He lifted a strip of soft meat and blubber, reached under his short parka, pulled a very sharp bone knife from his waistband, and cut a strip for Irving and another for himself. He handed the lieutenant his piece before cutting into his own.

The old woman standing nearby made a sort of wailing sound. “ Kaaktunga ! ” she cried. And when none of the men paid any attention to her, she shouted again, “ Kaaktunga ! ”

He made a face toward Irving, the kind one man makes to another when a woman demands something in their presence, and said, “ Orssunguvoq ! ” But he cut the old woman a strip of seal blubber and tossed it to her as one would to a dog.

The toothless old crone laughed and began gumming the blubber.

Immediately the group gathered around the sled, men with their knives out, and everyone began cutting and eating.

“ Aipalingiagpoq ,” said Mr. Tikerqat, pointing to the old woman and laughing. The other hunters, old man, and boy – everyone except the older man with the headband and pouch – joined in the laughter.

Irving smiled broadly, although he had no idea what the joke was.

The older man in the headband pointed to Irving and said, “ Qavac… suingne! Kangunartuliorpoq ! ”

The lieutenant did not need a translator to know that whatever the man had said, it had not been laudatory or kind. Mr. Tikerqat and several of the other hunters just shook their heads while eating.

Everyone, even the young woman, was using his or her knife the way Lady Silence had in her snow-house more than two months earlier – cutting the skin, meat, and blubber toward their mouths so the sharp blades came within a hairsbreadth of their greasy lips and tongues.

Irving cut his the same way – as best he could – but his knife was duller and he made a clumsy mess of it. But he did not cut his nose as he had the first time with Silence. The group ate in a companionable silence interrupted only by polite belches and the occasional fart. The men occasionally drank from some sort of pouch or skin, but Irving had already taken out the bottle he kept close to his body so the water would not freeze.

“ Kee-nah-oo-veet ? ” Inuk Tikerqat said suddenly. He pounded his chest. “ Tikerqat .” Again the young man removed his mitten and showed his two remaining fingers.

“Irving,” said the lieutenant, again tapping his own chest.

“ Eh-vunq ,” repeated the Esquimaux.

Irving smiled over the blubber. He pointed at his new friend. “Inuk Tikerqat, ee ? ”

The Esquimaux shook his head. “ Ah-ka .” The man made a wide sweep with his arms and hands, encompassing all the other Esquimaux as well as himself. “ Inuk ,” he said firmly. Holding up his mutilated hand and waggling his two remaining fingers while hiding his thumb, he said again, “ Tikerqat .”

Irving interpreted all this to mean that “Inuk” was not the man’s name but a description of all ten Esquimaux there – perhaps their tribal name or racial name or clan name. He guessed “Tikerqat” to be not a last name now but the entirety of his interlocutor’s name, and probably one meaning “Two Fingers.”

“ Tikerqat ,” said Irving, trying to pronounce it properly while still cutting and chewing blubber for himself. The fact that the meat and greasy fat were old, smelly, and raw meant almost nothing. It was as if his body craved this fat above all other things. “ Tikerqat ,” he said again.

There followed, in the midst of the squatting, cutting, and chewing, a general introduction. Tikerqat began both the introductions and the explanations by acting things out to explain the meaning of the name – if the names had a meaning – but then the other men picked up on it and acted out their own names. The moment had the feeling of a joyous child’s game.

“ Taliriktug ,” said Tikerqat slowly, pushing forward the barrel-chested young man next to him. Two Fingers grabbed his companion’s upper arm and squeezed it, making ah-yeh-I noises, then flexing his own muscle and comparing it to the other man’s thicker biceps.

“ Taliriktug ,” repeated Irving, wondering if it meant “Big Muscle” or “Strong Arm” or something similar.

The next man, a shorter one, was named Tuluqag . Tikerqat tugged the man’s parka hood back, pointed to his black hair, and made flapping noises with his hand, miming a bird flying.

“ Tuluqag ,” repeated Irving, nodding politely toward the man as he chewed. He wondered if the word meant “Raven.”

The fourth man thumped himself on the chest, grunted, “ Amaruq ,” and threw back his head and howled.

“ Amaruq ,” repeated Irving and nodded. “Wolf,” he said aloud.

The fifth hunter was named Mamarut and acted out some pantomime involving waving his arms and dancing. Irving repeated the name and nodded but had no idea what the name might mean.

The sixth hunter, a younger man of very serious demeanor, was introduced by Tikerqat as Ituksuk . This man stared at Irving with deep black eyes and said and acted out nothing. Irving nodded politely and chewed his blubber.

The older man with the headband and the pouch was introduced by Tikerqat as Asiajuk , but the man neither blinked nor showed recognition of the introduction. It was obvious he did not like or trust Third Lieutenant John Irving.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Asiajuk,” said Irving.

“ Afatkuq ,” Tikerqat said softly, nodding slightly in the direction of the unsmiling older man in the headband.

Some sort of medicine man ? wondered Irving. As long as Asiajuk’s hostility remained only on the level of silent suspicion, the lieutenant thought that things would be all right.

The old man at the sled was introduced as Kringmuluardjuk to the young lieutenant. Tikerqat pointed to the still-snarling dogs, brought his hands together in some sort of diminutive gesture, and laughed.

Then Irving’s laughing interlocutor pointed to the shy boy, who appeared to be about ten or eleven years old, pointed to his own chest again, and said, “ Irniq ,” followed by “ Qajorânguaq .”

Irving guessed that Irniq might mean “son” or “brother.” Probably the former, he thought. Or perhaps the boy’s name was Irniq and Qajorânguaq meant son or brother. The lieutenant nodded respectfully, just as he had with the older hunters.

Tikerqat shoved the old woman forward. Her name appeared to be Nauja , and Tikerqat again made a bird-flying motion. Irving repeated the name as best he could – there was a certain glottal sound that the Esquimaux made that he could not approximate – and nodded respectfully. He wondered if Nauja was an arctic tern, a seagull, or something more exotic.

The old woman giggled and stuffed more blubber in her mouth.

Tikerqat put his arm around the young woman, not much more than a girl really, and said, “ Qaumaniq .” Then the hunter grinned broadly and said, “ Amooq ! ”