Stopping by the Woods
by Robert Mariner, East Sierra Branch
I don’t know about you guys, but winters up here on this planet can get really cold!
We Terraformed this dirtball maybe 30,000 years ago, but we haven’t settled it yet. Instead, we seeded it with all the appropriate Terran life-forms we could, short of humans. You’d think that in such a short time not too much would have changed, but on this world that doesn’t seem to be quite true.
Anyway, here I am, camped by these woods on a snowy evening, with the intruder barricade around my campsite. Been a long day, taking and preserving samples of the local plant life in order for the scientific types back home to be sure they’re breeding true, and to verify that the Terraforming process was a total success. I’m supposed to be alone at this site because it’s considered perfectly safe, so there should be no overtly hostile wildlife around here. Dangerous, certainly, but not hostile, especially as they’ve never been abused by humans. And it really is time for me to be getting some sleep, tomorrow will come altogether too early.
I’m sure you’ve heard that sometimes we get the feeling that we’re being watched when there’s really no one around, at least no one we can see. That gets kind of old after a while, and most of us outland researchers get over those particular nerves fairly quickly – after all, especially in this northern area of this continent on this world, there’s really no genuine threat. Even the largest of the grizzly bears won’t come through the barricade, so I’m perfectly safe.
Right. All alone, sure. How come that doesn’t make me any more comfortable this evening? It’s almost as if someone else is riffling through my memories, especially the ones on language and social customs. Weird. Oh well, probably I’d best just turn out the lamp and try to get some shut-eye. What was that poem? Oh yes – “The woods are lovely, dark and deep…”
They are, aren’t they.
Okay, I don’t need to start hallucinating and talking to myself. Blasted almost-sleep, try again.
You’re not talking to yourself or imagining anything. I need to come into your camp and meet you, I’m responsible for this stretch of the woods.
And here I haven’t even had a drink for a month! Gotta stop these weird dreams, maybe see a shrink when I get back home.
Okay, don’t be surprised, there’ll be a bit of a commotion just outside your tent. One moment, here –
There’s the sound of something landing fairly heavily on the snow just outside, so I roll over, hit the lights, and peer outside the tent.
Thought you’d do that. Can I come in and get you to sign this guest log, please? Can’t have just everybody traipsing through here, it would disturb the wildlife.
That is the biggest gray wolf I’ve ever seen! And he’s standing on his hind paws, carrying a sign-in book! What have I gotten myself into?
Read more about Robert at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RobertM256
and on his website http://therefugeconfederation.com/