Readyworld

fiction by michael werneburg

I looked up and around at the thick forest of gently waving stalks. Digesting what? I wondered. There was nothing out there!

"How much larger are they?" I asked him.

"Hmmm?"

"How much larger are the adults?"

"Well, if their DNA equivalent works the way the rest of the life on this planet has, we're looking at something the size of a Terran bear, maybe."

I looked back down at him. "These are animals, then?"

"Yes. Like I say, these are just the juveniles, look you can see one there in the lower limbs of that tree analog."

Baffled by this, I looked back up and saw a small shape like a hairless koala hanging onto one of the limbs. It was similar in color to the branch it clung to, and wasn't making a move. If he hadn't pointed it out, my untrained eye would never have spotted it. But after seeing one, I couldn't help but spot quite a number.

"Predators," I murmured. "I thought you were talking about the trees!" This business was getting exciting! This was so much better than inspecting industrial components on Yotoyo's Sphere!

He gave me a stern look, and said, "No, no, the trees are just another pre-packaged habitat for the animals; it's definitely the animals that were of interest to the builders."

"Pre-packaged?" I asked, baffled.

"Do you even read any of the circulars?" he snapped, incredulous.

"Lena and I have been too busy", I said off-hand, "since the surgeons gave me back my clit!"

I noticed the officer and one of the soldiers exchange glances.

Hu ignored me. "Just about everything on this planet has the bare DNA structure needed to create the life-form. No ancestral leftovers, nothing that suggests natural selection. I mean, those 'trees' have the genetic simplicity of a -"