The Taleweaver

On the road, part one

Arthur spent the evening alone. He didn't care about being cold and miserable. Now he had proof that the official reports about Otherworld were less than accurate. If flora and fauna were identical, then that was somehow fine. Parallel universe, magic or divine intervention. If it was only partially identical, well that opened a totally different array of possibilities, and he fully understood why the government wanted to keep the lid on it for as long as possible. What Harbend called eagle had never existed on Earth, but most everything else was familiar. What if the finding of the Gate hadn't been first contact at all?

He needed to check his translations more carefully now, and observe more closely what he saw around him. The journey turned out to have more surprises than he'd thought from the beginning. After all he'd fled from pain rather than starting on a journey of exploration.

Arthur studied his notepad where he'd written down his observations. Now he did have a deadline. The power cells would last him a year, maybe a couple of months more if he was careful. After that everything he'd written down would be gone until he could lay his hands on a power source unless he started to make paper copies.

Plants, the thought sparked a nagging memory in him. Adding species could also mean subtracting them. Cotton! He remembered complaining about the lack of decent underwear. Of course cotton might grow unused, but they did have silk after all, even though what looked like silk could just as well come from some kind of spider for all he knew. He sighed. Too many guesses and too little real knowledge. Besides he was getting tired from reading and writing in the poor light of his wagon.

He stripped, hung his wet clothes on a pole running the entire length of the wagon just beneath the waxed cloth covering it, and crept into the bedroll he bought in Roadbreak. Damn Harbend, planning a camping trip without buying a bedroll. Almost as if he'd been preparing for some kind of strange survival exercise.