I write this on the bus to work, so it takes a bit of time to knock one out. Please leave feedback, good or bad. Enjoy.

A Cold Welcome

The cold of the morning was beginning to recede. With the sun warming the air, leaving the tall grass behind felt like stepping into another world.

With a sigh of relief Harren finally dared to ask. "How far to this city of yours?"

She sounded almost happy to report. "Don't worry at most its only a 4 hour walk."

"Damn" he groaned.

Stooping over he tried to gently put his pack on the grass. His back was killing him. From carrying what felt like 500 kilos of computer equipment and supplies. From the uneven ground and waist high grass. From the slight chill in the air making everything tight.

He grabbed some dried ration bars and some water stashed in the front of the bag. Standing back up and stretching Harren, in his best researcher voice said. "Note to self. Bodies for some of the children ASAP. I'm in horrible shape."

"Yes, but I doubt you could have snuck it through the relay. Walk, eat and stretch a few minutes. I have been looking over what the children saw with regarding to creature they…dealt with." Ann playfully mentioned.

Changing to a more 'know it all tone' she started lecturing. "It wasn't man made. Such genetic engineering is something far beyond what the remaining people could have crafted. My own deduction was it came from the native Nassian's when they invaded."

Thinking a moment Harren asked. "Then how was it possible for the children to damage it so badly? Wouldn't the technology have been incompatible with them?"

Ann continued her lecture. "The local people seemed to have grafted their technology rather effectively. What the children accessed was an added self destruct device. Crude explosives, but enough to burst the what 'was' a fragile creature. Its programming seemed be for simple information gathering."

Harren stopped her after that with an simple "enough for now."

Walking back to the pack, feeling slightly more limber Harren said, "I feel ready enough to continue. Please keep watching for additional signals. I'm almost hoping someone comes along that can give me a ride. While your at it, give me some music. I know there are speakers in there somewhere."

The implant went silent. If there had been anyone around they would have seen the sight of a lone nearly middle aged male. Wearing functional clothing, carrying a large pack…and blasting the sound young girls singing about love.

Many hours, 2 bathroom stops, and one genre change (because Ann could only handle so much inane pop music) later the first sign of humanity was found. The jazz filling the air went ominously silent. It was not hopeful.

The road Harren was following suddenly turned to cement. Ahead was a 'village' .

Consisting of a handful of small two story utilitarian buildings. They were built off the side of the road and placed around a slab of concrete. The only blatent sign of age in the village was the numerous cracks and plants sprouting from said concrete. It was odd to say the least.

What wasn't odd, but creepy was the silence. There was no sign of people. A quick look inside the first floor of several buildings showed blank concrete floors and walls. Still no sign of people.

Ann seemed to whisper in Harren's ear. "There isn't any signals I can pick up coming from here. This wasn't abandoned. It was never inhabited in the first place. Odd"

Harren made only the most cursory investigations in the village. Ann mentioned the nearby urban signals were getting stronger. Showing there were people. Just not here. She had been browsing their contents.

Ann explained. "At least we know there are people ahead. I'm seeing the normal data transmissions you would see back home. Phone calls to mom. People watching videos. Even several large streams of data going out to what I assume are other observation creatures or cities."

Harren had to ask. "Does this mean the people here are what I would call 'normal'?

Ann took a moment before answering "If by normal you mean walks on two legs? They are human like you. They are speaking in a language your cerebral implant recognizes and should adapt to easily. They also don't appear to worship a giant spaghetti monster god that demands virgin sacrifices or anything."

"It sounds promising" mildly enthused Harren. After that first encounter of the ugly exploding kind and the ghost town, he was ready for normal.

Less than an hour later normal was kicked in the face and thrown in the dirt. The 'urban area' on the plains could be seen by the naked eye. Harren could scarcely believe said naked eye. Sharing his vision with Ann through his implant, Ann could only join his awe.

The majestic city referenced in local videos was no where to be found.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Ahead was what could be only described a fungal forest. Bulbous towering growths as far as the eye could see. This was not human civilization as Harren nor Ann knew it. Harren was feeling tired. Very far from home. And very sick of walking. He did the only thing he could. He kept walking.

It took another 45 minutes to reach the first 'small' 2 story growths. The normal smells of a human city were supplemented by a sweet odor. This close, life in the city was even stranger. Harren could see people wearing what he would call normal clothing. Nothing too outlandish. But then people themselves had horrible looking growths. Extra limbs, eyes and other extremities of unknown purpose. They seemed to revel in their differences.

Harren, with his bag and obvious lack of 'improvements' caused people to give him strange looks. He decided to just ignore them.

Walking along the paved streets Harren was able to inspect their cars. If cars had legs and liked to bask in the sun. Looking like nothing more than giant grasshoppers, they had metallic carapaces in every possible color. People could be seen sitting inside pod like growths on cars bellies.

Coming from a rather sterile man-made society, Harren was rapidly regretting the choice of this world.

"Stay calm, don't look directly at the giant scary insects" Ann murmured lightly in Harren's ear.

Speaking through his mind so as to not startle the locals, Harren raged at Ann silently. "What the hell is normal about any of this? The people here are all freaks! It should be incinerated from orbit!!"

Sounding contrite Ann explained. "This isn't what I anticipated either…I never actually downloaded any pictures or videos while monitoring. All I saw was what type of information and some general idea about the content. I'm not even running at 1% of my normal abilities here."

Quickly nearing his first local. Harren observed what he assumed was a middle aged woman. Above the waist was normal, fairly handsome female shape, with a simple simple cloth wrap and jacket.

Below was a horror story. Four semi-arachnid limbs supported her as she leaned against a building. Her thorax and abdomen barely hidden behind a loose divided skirt.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Harren put on his best 'polite guy who totally isn't freaking out' smile and gave her a simple nod as he passed.

Harren desperately grasping at straws, retorted to Ann. "I know your limited dammit. But please see if you can figure out a place where I can release one of the children. I need to get a better idea of the layout of this place."

Ever a box of positivity, Ann had to ask. "Is that wise? I know we planned that initially, but after seeing this, I worry about possible incompatibility."

"My mind is incompatible with this shit! The children are expendable. We can always make more. I'm more worried about what a data 'port' is going to look like…please ancestors let there be Wi-Fi."

Harren must have spoken that last bit out loud, because a scratching noise could be heard behind him as the women 'stood'. She spoke rather bluntly. "Sir, you sound rather lost. If you like I could could call a flopper to get where ever your going."

Keeping his face friendly, Harren turned and nodded to the woman. He slowly set his bag in the curb behind him. Praying by the time he opened his mouth his implant would have shifted his speech to what ever he was hearing.

"Well girl I afraid this big city I no see long…" Harren quickly stopped speaking. From the look on the woman's face it hadn't been enough time for the language pack to be integrated perfectly yet.

Cursing himself Harren tried again. "My apologies madam, the long walk today seems to have gotten my mind a little mixed up." The woman seemed sceptical from after the blatent reversal. Locking eyes with the woman an praying he was understandable Harren continued.

"I would be very grateful for any assistance, but my first order of business is to find a place I could perhaps sell or pawn a few items."

The women's expression wasn't improving. When she answered it was not helpful. "I'm so sorry, I forgot I left my hopper unlocked. Would you please excuse me."

The woman turned to the building and started scuttling away. This left Harren baffled and yet feeling relief. "I don't know if that was lucky or not. Ann, I've no idea what a flopper is or the desire to find out just yet. Ill just wait here instead and hope you find something I can use quickly..."

Ann distracted, could only reply "I'm working as fast as possible"

Harren looked around at the outskirts of the city and the few staring locals. He soon joined his pack on the curb. Reaching into the pack he grabbed his water bottle and took a sip.

Looked at the unfamiliar sky, Harren enjoyed a little pity party. Wondering if later, he would finally get a bit of a warmer welcome.