Hard Work

"What about the brig?"

"I haven't forgotten about that, but it won't run away. Once we've completed our circuit, we can cut across the centre of the lagoon to take a look at it. But I've become bored with continual swimming, and some exploring on land would make a welcome change. I don't think that it's hot enough that an hour or two out of the water would be likely to do our fishy halves too much harm."

"The island where the steam is coming from seems rather rocky, so the trees might be the easier to look at first."

So they made the trees their first objective. Saying goodbye to Velus, they emerged from the water and used their arms to drag themselves up the island's beach. It was hard work, and soon their human halves were sweating and the muscles of their arms were aching. "I thought that I was reasonably muscular already, but in a few weeks we are going to have arms like circus strong-men," Astra grumbled.

Eventually they made it to the trees. There were a dozen of them, and they grew in the shape of a perfect circle. That could not be natural; someone must have planted them. But judging by their size, that must have been a very long time ago. Fred and Astra estimated them to be 100 feet high, and their trunks were six feet in diameter. Their leaves were large, oval in shape and a glossy dark green in colour. fred and Astra were both sure that they were of a species that was unknown in their homelands.

"I'm wondering if slogging up here was worthwile," Fred said. "Climbing them is obviously out of the question for us, so what do we do now?"

1. "The nuts that they've dropped are interesting," Astra replied, examining one that she held in her hand.
2. "I suppose you're right. Let's see if we can get across to that steam - or smoke, or whatever."
3. "Look over there. There seems to be a metal plate or something fixed to the ground right in the centre of the circle. Let's examine it."

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree