Zollocco: A Novel of Another Universe Read Free

Us. We may allow this human to visit Us, but live with Us? No. Adopting is out of the question.
     
    Upon awakening the next morning, I promptly ventured into the woods. Along with my axe and ammonia, I carried some snake meat for a meal. I made my way again to the stream, this time in hope of following the stream to its source. I made my way slowly alongside the flowing water, and was delighted to find that the stream originated in a pond not far away. The pond had beautiful, gold lilies growing in it, but lilies and pond alike were being choked by what looked like kelp. There were green birds sailing through the water eating the kelp. From a tree overhanging the pond swung an octopus! Two of the octopus's limbs clung to the branches of the tree, the rest stuffed kelp and gold lilies between its bulbous lips. The movement of the long arms was dainty and rhythmical as the muscular, suction-cup-lined limbs darted, one by one, in and out of the water. Droplets of water from the kelp and lilies dribbled from the octopus' limbs, and the droplets caught the sunlight and glistened. The sight had a beauty to it that was marred by the disgusting slurping sounds the animal made as it fed. As I watched, half terrified, half laughing, I suddenly remembered a dream I had had the night before. I had dreamed of my hands scooping kelp out of the water. At this point, the octopus caught sight of me and fled. I was relieved; I didn't want to wade in the water with an octopus hanging overhead. I took off my boots, rolled up my pants, and waded. The water felt briskly cold around my ankles. The lilies floated away from me, leaving an expanse of water. Inviting as it looked, it was too cold for a swim. I did splash some of the frigid water on my face. I waded over to a patch of kelp, scooped up a few strands, and on impulse ate it. It was quite tasty.
     
    So far, this human is easily governable when We consult with its bodily needs. It seems to have a great need for the iron and B vitamins in Our kelp, so We are sure it will eat more of Our kelp every new day. This is a relief, for otherwise the pond would soon fall into disease from kelp over-crowding and infect Us all. The human needs to relieve itself. Some ivy wants to place its leaves handy for the human to wipe itself with. Even the water elm thinks this would be a good joke. Humans always seem so embarrassed when they have to scratch their behinds. The human seems to know about the effects the ivy would have on it, because it is carefully avoiding the ivy.
     
    I have discovered something absolutely terrifying. The vegetation moves; it walks. I don't know if I dare go into the woods again, yet if I don't I will starve to death. It sounds ludicrous, but I was chased by a bush. I was stalking a water bird when I saw what looked like a perfectly ordinary forsythia bush move toward me. Astonished, I froze. To my horror, the yellow flowered plant continued towards me gaining speed. Frightened out of my wits I dashed (I didn't know in what direction I headed) as my fright willed. I ended up in the dell where the module was, and I dove into the structure, sealing the doors behind me. After I calmed a bit, I turned on the viewer to see if the forsythia waited for me outside of the module. It wasn't there.
     
    Forsythias never did get along with humans, especially not since humans learned to make wine out of forsythia. We expect the human will come out again when it gets hungry. We find it interesting that the human has retained its instinct to cower in a cave, albeit a can instead of a cave. If We are going to try and domesticate this human, We'd best get it integrated with Ourselves immediately. There is still a smell of illness to it that makes Us sick. We wonder if We could get the thing to a true Forest state of health, instead of that awful can pallor. We have a few things We would like to try to get it to do. The mirnie feels overburdened with its berries, a horned rabbit has completed