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Stories from the Verse
A Dozen Verses
Chapter 105: Cooper 107
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Kondor 290
As he walked, Brian surveyed the land around him. There was a well-traveled dirt road here, and he stuck to it for the present, both because he thought it would be an easier path and because he did not wish to trample the ripe crops in the fields or be thought to be stealing food. To that, he was not yet hungry thanks to his decent portion of snake in the last world. He wished he had his water can, but then, that was another problem with versing out separated from his property.
He was a brisk walker, but held himself back some because he realized he had no idea how far the spaceship had moved in the few seconds before he hit the ground. He had roughly calculated based on the knowledge that when he fell from the ship he would be moving at the same velocity as the ship, but he also knew that the ship was, hopefully, accelerating and he, inevitably, decelerating, so the distance was probably farther than he envisioned. Further, the reduced gravity of Mercury would mean that the ship accelerated more rapidly and he fell more slowly, so the distance would be greater than he was estimating. Still, his best option was to walk in the direction his scriff sense said would lead to the gear, but to try to stay to roads as much as possible.
There were laborers working in some of the fields, harvesting a variety of vegetables, and in some cases fruits from orchards. They were picking by hand, with ladders where necessary, and a variety of hand tools, putting produce in wooden baskets and putting these in carts that were obviously drawn by livestock of some sort, the animals to be brought when the wagons were ready to move. There were no powered machines of any sort--no tractors, no trucks, no powered harvesters or mowers, nothing that used gasoline or electricity or even steam.
He had been in worlds like that before. He could adapt.
The people looked human. He wouldn’t have considered that when he had arrived in Switzerland, but now having spent a few months aboard The Energetic that was a point. At least there they knew what humans were; what would it be like to verse into a world where he was the alien? Well, it hadn’t happened yet, and it didn’t appear to be happening now, so there was no reason to think about it. If it happened, it would be because God had some reason for him to be there. I am in Sovereign Hands, he again recalled.
The sun was westering as he reached the edge of a wood, and it was evident that his gear was off to his right within the trees. He surveyed them briefly to assure himself that this was not a fruit orchard, and then entered the small forest. As he did so, he realized that the vector to his equipment seemed to be dividing, as if it were in two slightly different locations. He wondered how that would be, but chose to follow the left-hand vector first. In less than a mile he came to a place that seemed to be the destination from the feeling, but he saw nothing. Relaxing, he realized that the source of the sense was at his feet, which were treading through leaves. Kneeling down, he shifted these, and then gasped. There were five stones in a small packet made of what seemed to be a clear cloth, with the name “Terri” on it. Each was a faceted gemstone, each a different color, each about the size of a quarter. At home these would be worth a small fortune. What were they doing here?
He remembered being told that he had earned a few gemstones which were being kept in the treasurer’s safe. This must be those. It seemed an incredible wage—but then, he realized, the world of the Energetic featured nine planets and several inhabited moons, plus asteroids, and compressed carbon crystals must be considerably more common. It reminded him, too, that when he was on Venus he had put a small handful of Venutian diamonds in his pants pocket, and now as he checked he found that they were indeed still there. He added these to them, checked the feeling to determine that there were no others, and followed the other vector.
It was only about thirty yards, easily within the interior of the ship, that he came to a spring by a small cave, and his possessions lying on the ground under the trees. He wanted a drink of the water, but decided that he should first pack his belongings, lest something happen to him in the stream. Taking care of that quickly--he did not have much to pack, particularly as compared with Derek and Vashti, although he did have the duffel with the Mister Justice suit and gear in addition to the small blue nylon backpack and the laptop case with which he had started. He changed out of the spacesuit into jeans, hiking boots, and his oversized flannel shirt, and packed the space gear in the duffel with the Mister Justice outfit. Perhaps so clad he would look more like a farmer and fit better in this world.
He wondered why he didn’t pack food. Of course, in his last world they rarely ate food, getting all their nutrition and energy from pills, and had he brought food from the previous world he probably would have eaten it. However, it was something to add to his list: get some food that travels well.
That probably wasn’t going to happen in this world. They might have jerky, dried fruit, nuts, and hardtack, but they weren’t going to have camper food packs or even canned goods.
Thunder interrupted his thought. He considered whether he should get out from under the trees, but then, standing in the open was probably more dangerous in a thunderstorm. There was this cave, right here. That would be the place to go. He would move into that, get a look at the conditions there, and try to get comfortable enough to read his Bible from his laptop until the rain passed. If it was nice enough in there, he could set up to spend the night.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
