A Day for Damnation

I could feel their eyes. This was the center of the world. Every bu

I stopped and waited. I allowed myself to feel the wind on my body. I let myself smell the grass and the scent of pine in the cool afternoon air. There was another scent on top of the pine. A sweet peppermint smell. The scent of the bu

The bu

They were waiting for me to do something.

I remembered what the bu

I touched the transceiver at my neck and said, very softly, "I have a problem. I don't know how to dance."

Fletcher's voice, just as softly, replied, "They don't know that. They've never seen a monkey dance before. Whatever you do is the right way."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me." I took a breath.

I started dancing.

I capered, I bounced, I shouted. I made Indian whooping noises with my hand over my mouth. I did a jig, a Charleston, a freddy, and a break. I jumped and hollered and shook.

The bu

"Well, come on-!" I shouted. "Don't you want to dance?" Several of the bu

I dropped forward in a somersault, came up on my knees, hooked my fingers in my mouth, crossed my eyes, stuck out my tongue, and said, "Boola-boola-boola! Labber-labber-labber-"

Two of the bu

In seconds, I was surrounded by bu

A bright red worm came over the crest of the slope. Two more followed after it. And then two more. And another-I didn't care.

The bu

"I think we've done it!" I laughed. "We've done it! I don't know what we've done, but we've done it!"

The bu

I dropped to my knees. The bu

One of the bu

The new arrivals plunged into the circle and joined the curious crowd. All of them wanted to get as close as possible. I reached out and touched as many of them as I could reach. I began to tickle them and poke them affectionately. I patted their heads and skritched their ears-they really loved that. I even picked up the baby bu

My transceiver started beeping. The bu

The button said, "Oh, great and powerful god of small pink things, look around you now."

The bu

I looked up, beyond the small pink bodies. There were worms here.

I was surrounded by worms.

Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-three worms.

All sizes. From the smallest I'd ever seen-about the size of a St. Bernard-to three huge monsters the size of Greyhound buses. "Well, hi guys..." I said. I stood up and looked at the worms.

The last worm was just being herded into place by three energetic little bu

All right-assume that the bu

FIFTY-SEVEN

SOME OF the worms swiveled their eyes to study me. Some of them closed their eyes and looked like they were dozing.

And that was it.

They stayed outside the circle. Why? Did that mean something? Or not-?

Most of the bu

Several of the bu

The bu

I touched the button at my throat and laughed. "I think there's room in this circle for a few more monkeys."

The button didn't respond.

I repeated my request. "I think we need some more monkeys out here."

"It's not part of the mission-"

"But it's appropriate," I said. "It's what's needs to happen next. We need to prove we're safe-as a species."

The button was silent.

I chuckled a bu

I said to the button, "Come on, guys. I think, if a few more monkeys don't join us, it might be an insult to our guests."

The button said, "Hold your shorts on, jasper. We're picking volunteers-"

I stayed with the bu

"Jim-" I said, and pointed to myself. "Jim-"

"Ch'ch'ch-" chittered one of the bu

The bu

Six more apes were coming out to join us. I recognized Jerry Larson and Roy Barnes, and two of the observation team, though I didn't know their names. And Fletcher. All had stripped to their underwear.

The bu

I called to her, "They must be mammals-"

She gri