Scorched Earth, Alien Wonders

A short while later, it was time to head over to the lab to see if things were on schedule, because when we last saw Daisy the night before, she said the ditch could be completed by later today. We were getting ready to ascend up the exit tunnel, when another round of questions about the water project started up again.

“Okay, but can I ask a stupid question first?” said Doc. “Because I’m not really understanding how Torie’s bot-nytes are going to pull off digging down into the ground 200 miles.”

Ahh crap, this might take a while.

I put the mini-binocs on the ground, and asked Torie to join us again.

“Jones, I’ll let you take this one,” I said, realizing that Doc was a smart guy, who didn’t have the benefit of being at the lab on occasions when things about the experiment were explained to those of us, who were science-challenged peons.

“Sure, let’s see if I can make this fast and easy...do you remember the Star Trek movie we saw last week during the Sci-Fi festival where the bad guys called The Borg wanted to assimilate everyone in the universe into their singular collective?”

“Yeah, they were some pretty creepy characters,” replied Doc and we all mumbled in agreement.

“Well, that’s kinda what Torie will be doing, but in a good way.”

“He will shift into millions of small bot-nytes covered with a special, chemical coating and each one can stretch down into the ground for miles but they stay connected to each other by a sort of telepathy like what the Borg used...but this is for good, not evil.”

“And after they have done their jobs by communicating their message to the soil particles, and delivering the pulse from Jones’ tail, they will all retract right back together into Torie’s collective, so he can quickly return to the surface and shift back to the his own form.”

“Okay, thanks, Jones. I get it now. Sounds pretty simple,” said Doc.

“Yeah, me too,” acknowledged Brown. “That whole 200-miles-down thingy was a little confusing.”

“I can see that, because it’s complicated, but Torie’s bot-nytes aren’t without limitations,” explained Jones. “That is the reason our town-folk friends had to dig the 20-foot trench to meet the exact requirements. Without it, Torie’s collective would max out just short of where he needs to be.”

“Okay, if we don’t get going now, we’re going to be late for Torie’s Borg debut,” I said, pushing aside my earlier unease and foreboding.

One by one, my team climbed up the tunnel, and out through the exit. But Torie lagged behind.

“Okay, Torie,” I said, teasingly. “Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it’s something you have never tried before.”

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic. I know what I’m doing. Rosenians and everyone else, for that matter, can only see things in one dimension. So, I’m not worried about my ability to do what’s needed. It’s all the unknowns down there that might get interesting.”

“Okay...what’s got you all ruffled up then? You didn’t want to take the risk before, so there must be something on that cantankerous mind of yours.”

Silence...

The old centurion cleared his throat. ““Not a thing...let’s go...we don’t want to be late.”

“But....

Then he shifted into the mini-binocs and plopped onto the ground.

Yep, I hate it when he does that in the middle of a conversation.

A short time later, we were all going down the familiar trail for the countless time since we landed on the desolate surface of this over-heated world. We were moving past the section I had named the “petrified forest” because of the eerie-looking stumps, contorted snags and ancient, lifeless trees.

I tried to imagine them all flush with green leaves, shimmering in the sun...singing birds flying by and buzzing bees dancing around in the air, but it filled me with such an emotion of sadness and loss, that it become uncomfortable to experience, and I had to shut it out.

Damn, faltering subroutine.

We turned the corner to a strange sight.

The ditch had massive mounds of dirt piled up on three sides, leaving the fourth 10-foot-wide opening on this end lower and clear of dirt. Everyone was gone and it was quiet. We had gotten used to music blaring from the loud speaker, but that was gone, too. The amazing town-folk had finished digging and were probably face-down in their burrows half catatonic from exhaustion.

We heard that Wilder had returned yesterday with basket loads of vegetation from the hydroponics center at the settlement. They said it was a big hit with Daisy and the workers. Wilder even brought my team some yummy mushrooms, because he heard we liked them.

“Can you believe they finished ahead of schedule?” I asked the team as we passed by the massive, gapping ditch.

“They were probably energized by all the good eats they had yesterday,” said Brown. “Poor things, I don’t know how they survive on so little.”

I opened the lab door to have my whiskers blown back by the cool air. It was a sensation I never got tired of, even if the heat didn’t bother me as much as it used to.

Right away, Jones left the team to go over and join the Wilders at the computer screen and the rest of us took up our usual positions in the lab’s center.

Soft music was playing in the back ground, and I recognized it as one of Sara’s classic favorites called “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson.

“I can’t believe we are so close to actually doing this thing,” I said, wondering why I should possibly have a case of nerves, when it was Torie and Jones who would be doing all the work.

Maybe my prairie dog DNA was from a female...

I immediately regretted my thought, but it was just more proof that I wasn’t myself. Besides, Jones probably would have plucked a handful of whiskers off my handsome face if she’d heard such a misogynistic notion. About that time, she walked over to us, and I had to stifle my guilty feeling.

“We are ready to start prepping Torie.”

I took the mini-binocs from around my neck and sat them on the floor.

“Torie.”

Nothing.

“Torie!”

Nothing.

“TORIE?”

Then he swirled up, and stood in the middle of the room. His face was stoic.

“They need to get you all slathered up for the mission now, old friend, so we’ll see you in a few hours after you get back from your heroic, dirt-swim,” I said.

“I need to talk to you Captain,” and he walked out the door.

Hmmmm...

I soon followed and saw that he was standing there about 15-feet from the lab looking at the gaping ditch in the distance. I walked up, but didn’t say anything...just stood next to him looking in the same direction.

No doubt we were a funny sight.

The four-foot-tall, funky, Yoda-looking character standing next to a two-foot-tall prairie dog sitting up on his haunches, like a meerkat.

A few minutes later, Torie finally started talking.

“You never knew my wife...she died eons ago...I didn’t think I would find anyone again who would make me feel like she did, but I got lucky.”

Bloody hell, I never even knew Torie was married before.

“If anything happens on this water extraction attempt and I am not able to recover my collective, I would like you to repeat my two-word message to Arthea, if you ever get back home.”

“Sure thing, Torie.”

“The message I sent to her was...‘love you’...”

Dammit...

I felt unexpected tears welling up in my eyes.

But I wasn’t sure what was driving my emotion...the beautiful words Torie entrusted me to relay back to his girlfriend...or the intense, and obstinate, feeling of dread that suddenly started creeping over me again.