Under the Canopy Read Free Page A

I wove between the huge tree trunks like a bird in flight. I've never felt such bliss in my entire life. The desert was good, more or less, but the forest immediately won me over with its majesty, serenity, and the coolness of its shadow.
    For some reason I had no fear of nature. No monsters in the bushes, no scary shadows creeping along the ground. My Dad used to say nature didn't tolerate evil. If you didn't have it inside you, there was nothing to be scared of. In the emptiness, there was nothing to harm you, but yourself. I remembered these words well. To me, Nature was, if not a friend, an ally. I heard a bird in the distance calling its friend and nodded in return, goose bumps running up my arms.
    Most of my territory was occupied by dense forest with an occasional clearing here and there, but on Ort's side there was a glade. That was the swamp. It stretched deep into his sector. I imagined from above it must look like a strip of bare land, all trees shaved off by a giant blade. From the ground it looked like an overgrown field with tall grass growing here and there and an occasional tree sticking out. I knew it was all a facade. What looked like solid earth was in reality dirty water with a fine layer of soil on top. One step in the wrong place, and you're gone.
    I didn't go to the river, it was further to the east, somewhere in Edlon's sector. Even though I'd spent several months in the desert, I wasn't so hot about seeing a mass of water. Just not my cup of tea.
    I especially liked one place on the border of the wild-lands. There, large rock formation had risen above the surface, creating a small crag. What caught my eye was how it leveled out to a flat top high above ground, no trees surrounding it. You could only reach the summit by air. I decided to seize the opportunity and use my new discovery as a camp for the night. I was sure I had a tent at home.
    Wasting no time, I turned the scooter and went to make sure.
     
    The tent was there. I started packing for a night out. As I zipped the overnight bag shut, my communicator made a noise. The computer needed my attention. I went upstairs to find a message informing me that HQ was expecting a written report from my sector. Sadly, this function was not automatic. My camping trip would have to wait.
    Having finished that, I quickly checked the cameras and the comm signal and hurried out to the woods. As soon as I left the garage, a wave of fresh air hit me and I felt invigorated. The air was warm and the birds were singing, foretelling a pleasant evening ahead.
    My scooter softly landed on the rocky summit. I dismounted and propped it up on the standing pegs, then dropped the bag and took out the tent. At first, erecting it seemed problematic; no ground to stick the pegs in. However, each peg was tipped with a suction cup, so I used those. The rest was easy. The crag's top was so flat, you could place an egg in the center and it wouldn't roll.
    It was a long time till the sundown, so I took off his raincoat and laid it on the rock. I dropped onto it and looked up. I watched the distant crowns of the trees and beyond them, white clouds passing by. Such a serene picture held my attention for a shorter period of time than I would have expected.
    I sat up and looked around. There was a group of animals ahead of me. They were the size of an average dog and were a weird mix of a squirrel and a monkey. All black, except the white bellies and tassels at the ends of long ears. Their faces were bare, with bulging eyes on the sides. I instantly recognized the beltysh in them, the animal I was supposed to protect from fur poaching.
    The beltysh lived in the midsection of the forest. Far from the crowns occupied by birds, but above the ground where the predators prowled. They made hollows in the trees and used them as their nesting places. Beltyshes were rather peaceful animals that survived by sticking together.
    The group I watched was gathering fruits on the ground. They worked