I laid still, closed my eyes again and tried to puzzle it all out but nothing was making since. I was starting to notice other things now. Instead of a mattress and sheets under me was something that felt, incredibly, like grass. When the soft breeze blew I could discern individual blades moving against my ribs and thighs. There was no sheet covering me and I was suddenly outraged that I was now naked and exposed to whomever might be near me. Was anyone near me?
I decided to risk opening my eyes again. This time I resolved to keep them open until I could explain the odd tricks that my mind was playing on me.
The sunlight was real, it was bright and it was coming from behind my head. There was a pinkish sky above me. Odd? Yes. But maybe that was from the drugs I had been shot up with. I knew I would have to take a better look around but that would entail moving my torso which should have some fairly serious wounds in it now. I felt my chest, searching for bandages and sore spots. Nothing! I cranked my eyes down as far as they would go without moving my head. I saw my chest, almost hairless as always, and the tips of my toes. It all looked like me. I decided to risk a slight shift of my body. I expected reality to come cascading over me like a summer flash flood in the form of pain. Nothing. I moved a little more. Still nothing. No pain. No bandages on my chest. Just that gentle breeze and the prickle of grass blades on my back and sides.
I needed answers and I needed them fast because my heart was beginning to drum loudly in my ears. Frankly, I was rapidly moving from a state of anger into being frightened.
“Help”. My voice sounded like a toad’s croak. If someone was going to hear that they would have to be very close. “Hey! Anybody? I need help. And some water.” My voice was stronger this time. The result was the same. Nothing. Either no one heard me or no one was responding.
There was just one thing to do. I would shove myself into a sitting position. I was certain that this would result in a flood of beeping alarms with concerned nurses telling me to stop moving and maybe a doctor warning me that I was foolishly harming myself.
I gathered my hands under my hips and slowly pushed upward. Now sitting up, I had my first good look around.
“Okay”, I told myself. “Something ain’t right here.”
Mystery number one: I felt absolutely no pain. That might be part of the reason I was outside. For some reason the surgery had not been performed. Okay, I get that. Another quick exploration of my chest and back with both hands confirmed there was no incision and no stitches. Fair enough.
Mystery number two: Why was I naked, lying in a field of yellow grass under a darkening, salmon-colored sky? Even worse, as I looked around me I saw no buildings, no people, and no sign of civilization anywhere. I was alone and there was no one and nothing around me.
No longer fearing pain I stood up. What the hell was going on? I turned around, carefully examining my surroundings.
I was in the middle of a huge prairie with nothing but yellowish grass and little groups of blue flowers for miles in any direction. Well, almost nothing. To my right were several things that weren’t really trees but close to it. They appeared to be about six feet high and were brownish-green in color. Their trunks were egg-shaped with scraggly branches growing out of the top. To my left, far off, probably four miles or more away I could see the topography rising and a group of rocks forming a hill. Except for the hill and the squat trees there was nothing but sky and grass and one lone cloud above. I cupped my hands over my eyes and turned to the source of the sunlight.
My throat tightened and my stomach churned. This sun was not what I was used to. It was a slightly pinkish orb, about the same size as the one I was accustomed to seeing but there was another glowing object near the horizon. My heart sank. There was no denying what that object was. It was a moon, smaller than the one I knew. And next to it was another moon, roughly the same size but a trifle dimmer. Both were in crescent, both reflecting the pinkish rays of their sun.
This was not Clovis. This was not California. This was not America. And, it was not Earth. This was something entirely different.
CHAPTER THREE
Shelter
I stared at the sky, the sun and the moons for what seemed to be an hour but was probably only a few minutes. I willed what I was seeing to change. Being a somewhat religious man I closed my eyes and prayed that I would open them and find myself in bed in the hospital, laughing at the effect the anesthetic had had on me. No matter how many times I tried praying it didn’t work. I added a little dose of humility by dropping to my knees. No change.
But eventually I started noticing that the pinkish sun was getting lower in the sky and the two crescent moons were rising, growing brighter. The breeze was also picking up, I could feel the longish blades of the grass tickling my calves. It wasn’t cold, about seventy five degrees or so. But night was definitely coming and I didn’t have any idea what would come with it. Maybe when the sun went down the temperature would drop to freezing. Or nocturnal predators might come pouring forth out of holes in the ground or flapping through the night sky. I tried one last thing in desperation. I put my hands to my mouth and shouted as loud as I could, asking, begging for someone to come to my assistance and tell me what was going on. Nothing changed. I was absolutely and undeniably alone. And I began to accept my new and terrifying reality; this was not going to change just because I wanted it to.
I found myself automatically searching for a stick or rock. I didn’t recognize it at the time but I was displaying one of the more prehistoric impulses of my species; When one finds oneself alone and naked in unfamiliar surroundings one finds a weapon. Fast. Unfortunately there was absolutely nothing around me but grass. I looked off into the distance at the rocky hill. It was the only thing that looked like it might afford me a windbreak or, if nothing else, a good-sized rock with which to defend myself should that become necessary. A cave seemed like too much to hope for seeing how my luck was going today. With no other obvious options and the light growing dimmer I took off toward the hill.
As I walked I pondered my situation from every angle I could think of. Logic was obviously not going to help me here because nothing that was happening was logical. In fact, everything that I had experienced since waking up was as illogical as it could possibly be.
I started going over possibilities in my head as I hiked. The scariest one was obvious: I had not survived the operation and was dead. Because of the sins of my life I was doomed to wander alone in a pink and yellow world for all eternity. Had I had pants on I might have soiled them. Thinking of the pink sky made me squint again at the sun overhead. My thoughts were pulled to eighth grade science class when we studied the different types of solar systems. I recalled that one type of sun was named a “red dwarf”. Is that what I was seeing overhead? Or was there something else…vapor, pollen, gas or whatever…that gave the sky here that unusual color?
The other thought that came to mind was that I had somehow passed through some kind of dimension warp and this is what was on the other side. This scenario was slightly less terrifying than the first as it held out the possibility that I would someday escape into death. Funny how comforting that possibility seemed to me.
In an attempt to be optimistic I tried to tell myself that I could still be unconscious and in the process of having my chest pierced in a Clovis hospital. Though I would have given anything for this to be the case, even prayed that it was so, in my heart I knew it wasn’t true. The grass, the wind, the sky, the moons, even my sore feet, everything was too real. I was definitely somewhere else.
Laboring to keep myself just barely on the good side of panic I concentrated on other things as I walked: The breeze felt really nice and I felt strong. Even though I was setting a pretty fast pace I was not struggling at all. My body felt lighter. Much lighter than before. My eyes scanned the horizon and I noticed that it seemed different somehow. Smaller. Closer. Was it possible that this planet (if, indeed, it was a planet) was smaller than my Earth? That would account for the closer horizo
n and feeling of lightness. Smaller planet equals less gravity. My increased stamina could be accounted for by that and maybe a higher oxygen content in the atmosphere. Heck, it was as good of a guess as any.
I reflected on the number of times I had sat alone in my small townhouse in Clovis with a beer in one hand and the television turned to mute while reading science fiction novels. I devoured them. Harlan Ellison, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Scalzi, I loved them all. I thought of the number of times I had caught myself daydreaming about finding myself in exotic situations like the ones of which I had read. I always believed that living such an adventurous life in exotic worlds would be romantic. What I wouldn’t give now to be back in good old boring Clovis with its tiny downtown area and numerous antique shops.
After a few hours of walking through yellow grass I noticed the ground starting to rise. As I got even closer I saw it was not really a hill at all but a collection of boulders piled upon each other. I stopped, knelt and listened. This looked like a good place in which a predator could lie in wait for its next meal. I strained my ears but heard only the wind stirring the grass. An examination of the nearby ground revealed no footprints or any other indication of animals being about.
The top of the rock pile was approximately twenty-five feet high. It looked like a good place from which to survey the surroundings. I hoped I still had enough energy after my long trek to make it to the top. To my surprise and delight the climb was almost ridiculously easy. The theory of being on a smaller world with decreased gravity was strengthened by the manner in which I was able to hop from one rock to the next. Were it not for my incredible circumstances it might even have been fun. But reaching the pinnacle brought me back to reality. I stood at the top and looked about in every direction. There were no indications of civilization anywhere. The yellow plains stretched off miles into the distance except in the direction beyond the rock pile. There I saw other hills, more of the bushy trees and beyond those, about twenty miles in the distance, a forest.
A forest meant water and, hopefully, food. It was too distant to make out any details but the trees looked normal if a little more brown than green. It was the first thing I had seen since waking up that promised more than a lonely death from starvation and lack of water.
But it was going to have to wait. The sun was now halfway behind the horizon, shooting gorgeous pink and orange rays out over the sky. Night was approaching and fast. I needed a safe place to spend the night even though sleeping seemed unlikely under the circumstances.
Looking around I was able to find a spot where two of the larger, flatter slabs had been pushed up together, the tectonic forces forming a V-shaped opening much like a small cave. It rose up eight feet high but was very narrow, maybe two and a half or three feet wide. There was only one open end, the other being closed off by a heap of smaller stones. It was big enough to sleep in but years of wind had blown dust and dried grass up into the crevice. The grass was useful as bedding but the dust was so dry and fine that it scattered like talcum powder if disturbed at all. It would have to be scraped out if I was going to get any sleep at all.
I tried scooping the dust out by hand, digging down to the hardened ground beneath it. Bending over I used both hands to throw the dirt out through my parted legs much like a dog digs. It worked but it was slow going and I was being covered by the settling dust. I looked around for something to be used as a shovel and found a flat triangular rock. The trouble was, it was larger than I needed and looked like it would be too heavy. But I had no other options so I surrendered to desperation. I grabbed one end and heaved to pull it out of the dirt. To my surprise the thing came away with only minor resistance. I held it up in both hands and examined it. In the life and world that I was used to this stone would easily weigh sixty to seventy pounds. In my hands it felt about like twenty. Even more provenance for the smaller-planet theory.
The work went much faster with the rock. It was maybe four feet long and a foot wide at the broad end, shaped like a big arrowhead. It would probably serve well as a defensive weapon also. After fifteen minutes of work with my improvised tool I had cleared out most of the loose powder and had fairly decent-sized sleeping area which I covered with the dry grass. I could only guess at how I now would look with a coating of powdery dust covering my entire body. I didn’t have to guess at how I smelled because that had become obvious as soon as I began to sweat. The damp dust had a slightly gritty feel to it where it gathered under my arms and around my neck. Still, it was a minor triumph that I now had a place in which to spend the night. One less thing to worry about.
But as the darkness fell so did my mood. The work of clearing the cave had kept me from focusing on my circumstances. The scariness of the situation came back to me now that I had nothing else to keep myself occupied. Fear had a tight grip on my throat. Death was not my biggest dread, it was never seeing another person again and facing a lifetime alone. As I usually do when I feel powerless I started praying again. Panic threatened to overpower me and I let the tears finally flow. Outside, the world grew dark as ink around me. I huddled in my makeshift cave and pleaded with God. Why had he done this to me? What horrible sin had I committed to have Him send me to this place? I begged Him to show me what I must do to be returned to my home. Finally, exhaustion took over and I lay down upon my bed of grass. I lay on my back staring up at where the two large stone slabs met above my head. I wondered what would happen if they slipped and fell. I didn’t care. At least it would put an end to the fear.
Then, just before I slipped away into sleep something miraculously lifted my fear. One moment it hung heavy on my head and then... it left me. My breathing smoothed out and the knots in my chest and stomach relaxed. A welcome calm enveloped me. Somehow I knew…I was where I was supposed to be. And I slipped away into the sweet blackness of sleep.
CHAPTER FOUR
A Friend
She had traveled long, away from her mountain home. She missed the views from the mountainside of the valleys below. This was not a journey that she had desired to make. She missed her mother and her litter-mates. But she was chosen so it was her place to make the trip.
She had been lying on a warm rock watching the shifting clouds and grooming her tail when the “Awareness” struck. She fought it for a spell, thinking it could not actually be happening to her but eventually she accepted the reality of it. She was the right age and the time would be now. And besides, she needed a name.
There had been no words because the Awarness communicated using feelings, emotions and images. She and her kind had the ability to communicate with other species in this manner even though their way of interacting with their own kind was more direct. She had been flooded with images of one of the human animals, a strange being with golden hair and eyes as blue as a mountain lake. It was an odd appearance but not a troubling one. There was a gentleness in the face and eyes. Other than his hair and eyes the only difference between him and the other humans was his lighter skin. All of the humans she had observed thus far had the same dark hair, eyes and skin.
This would be a long journey and there would be much danger. The Awareness had made that clear. She would not again see her home until the calling had been satisfied. And maybe not at all.
Now here she was crouching at the bottom of a pile of rocks. The ground was covered with dust and she felt small pebbles poking into her belly. She sampled the air around her but smelled only dust and grass. There were no other creatures prowling about. She settled down lower into a depression under a bush. She hated the fact that her fur was gathering dust and small leaves but she forced herself to ignore it.
She relaxed and tried to open her mind. It was difficult because she still longed for home. But her mother had trained her and she had learned well. Her eyes slowly closed as she took control of her senses. Her hearing and sense of smell were reduced to the point that only danger would register. Her other sense, the one that only her kind possessed, grew and took over her body and mind. Her breathing slow
ed, as did her heartbeats.
She sought the mindscent.
She reached out now, probing, searching. He was there above her in the rocks. But before she could approach him she had to establish the connection. Only then could she be certain that he actually was the human that she had been sent to help. The Awareness had gifted her with his mindscent so there was not much chance that she had followed false trails but caution was called for. This was a dangerous tasking and she had no idea from which direction danger might emerge.
The world shrank farther from her notice as her mind ventured out and above. She caught the mindscent again and followed it. The trail it left was different from the humans she had read before. His was a more difficult mind to connect with. It had…strength. And a complexity that she’d not experienced. This was an unusual human. She probed further until, finally, she was able to tap into his mind.
Emotion immediately gushed into her, so much of it that she almost broke the bond. She gathered herself anew so that she could so that she could continue and identify it.
Fear. He was consumed by it. It was overwhelming and beating down on him like a hot sun. She searched for more but the fear was blocking everything else. He was on the brink of a mental collapse. This was not good. Fear was expected but not to this degree. Too much was expected of him. Too much had been put upon him. She reached out further, exploring different channels and mind-paths. Was that something else? Yes! Fatigue, almost as overpowering as the fear. Each was feeding the other. That she could work with.
Far down below where the human slept, at the bottom of this pile of rocks her little body was now motionless. Her beautiful tail had wrapped around her, almost of its own accord. She rearranged and redirected her thoughts from receiving to projecting. She envisioned the human’s mind as a cavern. She entered it crawling and shuffling and wiggling through shafts and tunnels. Finally she arrived at the place for which she had been searching. Here was the cavern in which his emotions were stored. For convenience, she pictured those emotions as little balls of light in a nest of moss and leaves. The orb that was projecting the most light was the repository of his fear. She approached it and stretched her paws out to it. She stood over it, close enough to feel the heat that was pulsing out of it. From here she could examine it.
The Olvion Reality (The Chronicles of Olvion Book 1) Page 2