Patreon or PayPal Me keeps this site and its author alive. Thank you. |
Stories from the Verse
A Dozen Verses
Chapter 127: Cooper 114
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Kondor 298
Brian dropped his pack and his duffel in the lean-to, and considered what to do next. It struck him that his predecessor had built targets suitable for archery, and that suggested that whatever else she did, she was practicing while she was here. It struck him that if indeed he was in Sovereign hands, then he must be here for a reason, and while that reason might be to get some rest and not be on someone’s hit list for a while, the possibility that this was a place to practice had some merit. Of course, the only ranged weapon he had was the dart gun, and he didn’t have many darts or the materials to make more. However, he could practice forms with the sword, and experiment with what this glove did, as it appeared to be far more powerful than he had imagined when it was given to him.
He should taste the fruit. That was foolish, he thought; he wasn’t hungry, having just eaten in the last world. No, he told himself, it wasn’t foolish. He shouldn’t wait until he was hungry--if the fruit he tried made him sick, he would want to have eaten only a little of it. He returned to the hut where the fruit sat.
There were four kinds of fruit here, each a different size, and a different quantity of each. Of course, part of that would be the size of the bunches as they grew, part would be how long ago they had been picked, part how fast his predecessor ate them--which in turn could reflect a personal preference, the degree to which it was filling, and how quickly it spoiled. Still, the largest bunch seemed to be comprised of the largest amount of the largest sized fruit, which he thought appeared a hardy fruit. He decided to begin with it.
He pulled one from the bunch, found that the peel came off fairly easily once he had cut through it with a fingernail, and had a bite.
It had a soft pulp and a light, sweet flavor, and was easily chewed and swallowed. It occurred to him that if he were doing this properly he would spit out this first bit--but to some degree he was trusting that these had already been demonstrated to be food, so he swallowed this bite and finished the rest of the fruit. It took about five bites to consume the entire piece, and if it proved the only thing he could eat it would probably keep him alive.
He would test the others later. There were more things to do, but he realized that the sun was closer to the horizon than it was when he arrived, and he should probably organize a space to sleep while he still had light.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
