Though she would need to head west sooner or later, Astra decided that for
now she would follow the river inland. Before long the land became much
more fertile, with the scattered stunted dwarf oaks giving way to a forest
of full-sized deciduous trees. At the same time, the clouds of gnats
thinned and then were left behind.
Astra no longer needed her protective coating, so she bathed in the river in the hope of removing it. As she had feared, though, the only effect this had on the tarry material was to make it temporarily a little stickier. It seemed that it would take at least a hot bath with plenty of soap to remove it. She resumed walking along the riverbank. Before long, she came to a large orchard of pear trees. As she satisfied her hunger with their fruit, she reflected that the presence of the orchard must mean that people were not very far away. She was not sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. Then she saw movement through the trees, and a boy of ten or so came into view. He was carrying a basket half full of pears, having evidently been harvesting them. When he spotted her, a look of terror came over his face. "The creature from the Black Lagoon!" he cried, and then he dropped the basket and turned and ran.
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7/15/2004 2:23:28 AM
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