Jerry Davis - Down In The Canyon

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DOWN IN THE CANYON

Jason didn't understand most of what his parents told him,

except the part where he should never go near the canyon where the

mists came out. "Never ever go near there," his father said. "If

you fall in we wouldn't be able to get you out." He told Jason

there were monsters down there, and that if the fall didn't kill

him, the monsters certainly would.

Jason had seen the canyon twice, once when the worker robots

were building the fence, and once after the fence had been torn

down. Everyone seemed upset that the fence had been wrecked. It

happened during the night, and there were large claw marks in the

brown dirt all around the twisted metal. Jason's father said that

whatever had done it was very strong, and probably very large.

The canyon cut across the brown landscape, running from the

distant hills all the way to the sea, passing the edge of the

settlement on the East side. The settlement had been placed beside

the canyon because of the mists. Jason's computer told him that

the mist was made up of tiny droplets of water, and this water

helped the settlement's plants grow.

The plants were everywhere, surrounding Jason's home and

lining the roads and filling every little spot in between. "Earth

plants," they were called. "From the homeworld." Jason liked to

walk among them, especially the trees, and wonder what it was like

to be on Earth.

The other kids were usually out playing among the trees, or

out at the edge where the robots were doing the new planting.

Bradley Rosewald was there, as was Frederick Turney and his sister

Stephanie. They were the three that were of about Jason's age.

Stephanie, who was tanned and dark-haired like her brother, was

pinching her nose in distaste. "It smells here," she complained.

"That stuff is pooo-cheee."

"Dad says it smells a lot worse when they pull it out of the

ocean," Frederick said. "Before they take the salt out of it."

"Why do they have to put it in the ground?" Jason asked,

watching as a large autonomic tractor laced the soil with the

green, odorous slime.

"It gives the plants something to eat," Bradley Rosewald

said.

"To eat?"

"Of course. Don't you know anything, Jason? This soil is

sterile, it has no nutrients in it."

"Oh." Jason decided he'd ask his computer what "nutrients"

were when he got home. "How did the soil get sterile?"

Bradley rolled his eyes. He was the oldest of the four, with

bright blond hair and a freckled face. His eyes were a shining

blue. "What a question," he said, and didn't bother to answer.

As they watched the robotic equipment toiling in the endless

brown dirt, a mist drifted in from the East, mingling with the

plants and blocking the sunlight. The temperature dropped a bit

and Jason felt his jacket warm up to compensate. He still felt a

chill, though --- he knew perfectly well where the mist was coming

from.

"Hey," Bradley said. "Let's go peek over the edge."

Frederick was all for it. "Yeah, let's see if we can see the

monsters." He and Bradley stood up, and took several steps toward

the East. Stephanie stood up, looking unsure. Jason was transfixed

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with horror.

The two boys stopped, turning around. "You coming?" Bradley

said.

"I can't go there!" Jason said. "My parents told me never to

go there!"

"We've been there thousands of times," Frederick said.

"There's nothing to it."

"We throw rocks down there," Stephanie said. Her voice was

quiet, her eyes on Jason. "You won't tell, will you?"

"You throw rocks?"

"Yeah," Frederick said. "Once we heard this long, mean growl.

Grrrrrrr! Like that."

"What's wrong? You're too precious to your mommy and daddy?

You're so special 'cause you 'naturally born?'" Bradley was laying

the sarcasm on thick. "I think you're afraid. You're afraid 'cause

you're still experiencing your birth trauma."

"I am not!"

"You are too. Natural babies have birth trauma, that's why

they're cowards. Dittos like us aren't afraid of anything."

Bradley turned away. "Come on, Frederick."

Frederick motioned for his sister to follow, then turned and

walked off after Bradley. Stephanie looked after them, then turned

back to Jason. "Please don't tell."

"I'm not afraid," Jason lied. "It's just that my parents told

me never to go there."

"Me too." She gave him a deep, meaningful look which Jason

didn't understand, then turned and trotted to catch up to the

others. Jason saw her fading into the mist and his feet took on a

life of their own, one foot stepping in front of the other,

carrying him after her even as the rest of him yearned for the

safety of home.

There were pine trees, there were walnut trees. There were

apple trees. There was a field of corn. He caught up to them and

followed without a word, staring at Stephanie's back and the

strands of her hair as it bounced with each step. They came to a

clearing and the mist grew thick as paste. This was as close as

he'd ever been; about fifty meters beyond was a edge that dropped

down into mystery and nightmares. The last time he was here it had

been with his father, and that had been scary enough.

They walked about a half dozen meters through the mist and

then Bradley motioned for them to stop. "Listen," he whispered,

and was still. Jason listened, expecting to hear a monster's

growl. Instead he heard a low rumbling sound, a noise so deep and

hard that it seemed to come up from the ground itself.

"It's louder this time," Frederick whispered.

"What is it?" Jason asked. "Is it the monster?"

"No, you dunce. It's water."

"Water?"

"Of course, water. There's a river down there. Don't you know

anything?"

All Jason knew about the canyon was that he was supposed to

stay away from it. But it stood to reason that if water mist came

drifting out of it, then there must be water down there.

"The water's warm," Frederick said. "It goes through a place

where the ground is really hot. My father took me there once,

because he works in the power plant up in the hills."

"It's geothermal," Stephanie said. She pronounced the word

very carefully.

They continued deeper into the mist, and the rumbling of the

water grew much louder. When they came across the ruins of the

fence, Jason knew they were a mere meter or two from the edge. He

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was so scared he was shaking, but he was determined not to show

it.

The ground under their feet was soft and wet from the heavy

mist. Frederick dug a porous rock out of the mud and tossed it out

into the void. That was the end of it --- it simply vanished. They

listened to hear if a monster growled, but there was only the

rumble of the water.

Bradley bravely made his way over the bent posts and strewn

metal cables of the fence and to the edge itself. He crouched

there, peering over. The mist was so thick that Jason could barely

see him, and occasional drifts made him disappear altogether.

After a moment, Frederick joined him.

"This is crazy," Jason whispered. Stephanie, who was standing

very close to him, said nothing. He felt her hand suddenly grab

his, and she took a few steps forward. He followed, each step a

thing of torture. At any moment he expected some horrible creature

to leap out at them from the mist, something with red eyes, gaping

mouth and razor sharp claws.

On the other side of the ruined fence was a large, damp rock

and just beyond a section of ground that had sunk down a half

meter. Two meters beyond that was the edge. Jason and Stephanie

sat down on the rock, their feet on the sunken shelf, and threw

pebbles into the canyon.

"My dad's computer has pictures of plants and stuff from down

there," Frederick said. "They're native plants, way different from

the trees."

"Primitive," Stephanie said. "Dad says they're just learning

to come out of the water."

"They're all gooey looking, like jelly. The leaves are

black."

"My dad has pictures of them too," Bradley said, making it

sound like it was all old news to him. "He's got pictures of some

of the monsters, too."

"The big ones?" Frederick said. "With the long teeth?"

"Yeah."

"Mean looking?"

"Yeah."

Jason seized upon an idea that would get them away from the

canyon. "I've never seen pictures of the monsters," he said. "My

mom told me they would only give me nightmares."

"What a baby," Bradley said.

"I'd like to see them. Can we go look at them?" Jason heard

the pleading tone in his own voice, and knew his reasoning was

obvious. He was surprised when Bradley missed the opportunity to

insult him. Instead, Bradley backed away from the edge and stood

up.

"Yeah, okay," he said. There was a hint of relief in his

voice, like he too had been waiting for an excuse to get away from

the canyon.

Their feet still on the sunken shelf of dirt, Jason and

Stephanie stood up. When they did, Jason felt the ground begin to

sink away from him. For a split second he had a chance to turn and

leap away, but he saw Stephanie lose her balance and fall forward.

He tried to grab her, and in doing so lost his chance.

Jason remembered hearing Bradley and Frederick's yells

receding above, and the feeling of falling. He and Stephanie were

still on a flat section of ground but that ground was sliding down

into the canyon. The falling sensation ended for a moment and then

he was face-first in the mud, and still they were sliding. The

only thought going through his mind was a kind of wonder, thinking

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Jerry Davis - Down In The Canyon

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