The Green Cathedral by Kerry McDonald

Author:Kerry McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level 4 Press, Inc.
Published: 2020-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

18

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It was the sun that woke Abel the next morning as he found himself lying in the hammock where Rimi had laid him. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around to get his bearings. He could see that his bed was slung between the silvery escape pod and a substantial tree. Feeling very refreshed and pleasantly warm, he turned to get out of the hammock but ended up on his face in the dirt instead. His delicate state of physical health had reminded him, through sharp pains in both his arms and legs, that all was not well with him, regardless of how refreshed he felt, and that his body, in general, wasn’t up to its usual strength.

“Shit,” he grumbled to himself. He clawed at the hammock and managed to drag himself up onto his feet, but nearly fell again when the hammock swung back as he leaned against it. “Damn!” This time he steadied himself on his legs, then used the hammock as a crude railing to help him walk to the side of the escape pod where the walking stick he’d used the other day was still standing. Now, able to firmly secure his legs, he walked forward—and fell into the wall of the pod after tripping over himself—but he didn’t even know because he suddenly appeared inside the pod where he righted himself and saw that there were a small table and chair set up for him in the midst of the sphere where the healing cylinder had been the day before.

“Hello, Abel,” came the metallic voice of Bibi. “It’s a beautiful day here on La Catedral Verde. We’ve got sunny skies, calm seas, and light winds from the east at just three miles per hour. Things should remain that way for pretty much all day, with highs in the mid-seventies, and, of course, the usual afternoon rains on the mountain.”

“Jesus, you sound like the morning weather report on TV back when I was a kid,” said Abel. And then he suddenly stopped just as he was about to sit down. “Wait a minute. I was just out there getting out of a hammock”—he pointed to the wall—“and now I’m in here—and I didn’t open the door!”

He smiled the most crooked of smiles at what looked like it might be Bibi’s control panel and slammed a hand down on the table.

“Ha-ha! I did it, Bibs! I walked in just like she does!”

“Technically, you fell in,” replied Bibi.

“Who gives a shit? I did it, Bibs! Ha-ha! Give me five, man!” Ignoring the pain he felt, he smacked the control panel with the flat of his hand.

“I can do better than that,” said Bibi, and a tentacle with a Mickey Mouse–type hand on its end suddenly extruded from the ceiling and smacked Abel’s hand so hard it sent him tumbling to the floor. He laughed in spite of the pain, and Bibi laughed a very robotic-sounding laugh.

Just at that moment, Rimi appeared through the wall and gasped at Abel on the floor.

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