NationStates Jolt Archive

Damala Pallis was a very unusual woman. For one thing, she was big for a female, several inches over six feet in height. She had unusually broad shoulders and wide hips and a well-muscled physique that one might expect to find on an Olympian athlete. For another, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Despite its size, her body seemed curved in all the right places, at least from the perspective of most human males. Her face was symmetrical and pleasantly soft, her legs were long, her chest was full, and her hair was lustruous. Her olive skin was largely unblemished. On top of all of that, she seemed quite confident. She walked with the gait of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and had no doubt she would get it. She was likely quite a surprise to the Burungian expedition scheduled to begin scientific work in the jungles of Danaan Sahor. She had been advertised simply as a local guide who knew the area. She smiled as she approached the expedition leader. "Good morning. I'm Pallis."

They were at a small military run port on the coast of Sahor where the Burugians had been allowed to come after getting liscenses to go exploring in the jungle. In the background, a number of Ambaran porters, mostly African-Ambarans from Marlund, were moving to load the Burungians belongings into the vehicles set to enter the jungle at any moment.

"Will there be many mosquitoes?"

Dr. Rosa Sartono wasn't too worried, more curious. Mosquitoes were plentiful in the Burung Paradis jungles where she's been born, and if they were plentiful here too, then it was no skin off her nose. So to speak. But as a biologist, she was always curious about such things. She was especially curious after being stuck on a converted fishing vessel for weeks. Not for the first time, she wished the science budget at Lovefest University could run to air travel. The endless search for medicinal herbs was worth splurging on, she kept telling the funding agencies. And they just told her that sea travel broadened the mind, and patience was a virtue, and she could use the time to catch up on her reading.

"Shh," replied Hector Silva, her assistant as head of the grandiosely-named South Atlantic Biomedical Research Expedition. "Here comes a giantess."

The Burungi researchers gasped as Pallis strode into sight. The average height back home was about 5'8" for men. A woman of that size was unheard of.

Rosa shook off her surprise. She made the customary low bow. "You honour us, Ibu Pallis," she said, adding the customary honourific term for older or respected women. "My name is Rosa Sartono, and may I say how grateful we are for this opportunity and how impressed we are with your preparations."

Pallis returned the bow, smiling politely at the Burungians. "Thank you, Dr. Sartono but it is all rather standard expeditionary equipment, I assure you." She turned to glance over her shoulder, checking on the porters. "It looks like they're about ready to go. So I understand you're looking for new herbs? They could be found anywhere. There's an estimated 953 undiscovered species on plantlife in the jungles here. However, we should probably head in pretty deep as the border areas have been explored pretty thoroughly already. We should be able to take the vehicles in the fifty miles or so and get out and walk after that."

The enormous woman started to head towards the vehicles, gesturing for the scientists to follow. "All your permits are in order so there should be no particular trouble from the state. The Sons of the Reformation have been mostly wiped out in Sahor. If we do encounter them, I'm armed and so are most of the men."

She hopped casually into the back of one of the jeep-like vehicles, sitting on the edge and smiling pleasantly. "Oh, and I hope you had a good voyage over here, doctors."

"The journey was delightful," Rosa said unconvincingly. "Would you excuse me just a moment?" She bent down and kissed the earth. "Glorious land!" she whispered.

The Burungis jumped aboard the land-vessels. "Hmm, so what are these powered by?" Rosa asked. "We use vegetable oil, back home." She watched the jungle canopy close in overhead, looking more and more pleased as they entered the rain forest. It was like coming home. She could feel her specimen-collecting urge rising.

Look! What was that creeper? It didn't look familiar.

Rosa was thrilled. So much to discover. "953 undiscovered species?" she asked. "My compliments to your statisticians on the precision of their estimates."

Pallis laughed slightly. "A more precise number doesn't make a more accurate estimate. Every forumula for calculating these things gives a precise number but also a high margin of error. Giving a number more precise than the margin of error probably shows the desire of our statisticians to seem like they know more than they do than anything else."

Pallis frowned a little at the question about the vehicles. "As a naturalists, I obviously wish that my country used such ecologically responsible methods. There are a few private cars on the market that use vegetable oil, hydrogen, or even imported Menelmacar gravitics technologies. However, that's just a few city vehicles. For machines like this, we're still very reliant upon petroleum based products. These vehicles do use it efficiently and comparatively cleanly compared to similar vehicles even five years ago, however."

The inordinately tall woman settled down in the bed of the truck she was sharing with the Burungians, stretching her legs (which nearly crossed the whole bed) out over some of the less delicate equipment. "This should be a fairly long ride, doctors."

"So is this your first time in Ambara?" Pallis asked, trying to open up some kind of conversation.

"The continent actually has a fairly long history. Some early records talk of attempts to settle out here but they were all eventually abandoned. Until the foundation of Abt, all human habitation was on the West coast." she noted.

"At least that we know of." Pallis clarified. "Sahor hasn't been completely explored yet, not by a long shot."