All four of us survived the “landing”. The acceleration couches and suits saved our lives, but I was certain I had some spine damage. The vision in my left eye was tinged red. My joints protested violently with every staggered step. It was worse when Ed thrashed on the makeshift travois. Suki helped as much as she could, but I was carrying most of the weight. Teefey was following like a stunned pack horse, with one of the EVA tethers securing her to the travois to keep her from wandering.
The squirrel-thing kept stopping and waving us forward with the “hand” at the end of its tail. Neither the small town, nor the ludicrously huge city in the distance seemed any closer. Ed wasn’t going to make it to civilization, and the rest of us were likely to follow soon from some chemical or pathogen in this unknown, untested atmosphere. Given the options of slowly sinking into a swamp that appeared to be made of cow shit and orange sherbet or following a sentient squirrel, we were following the squirrel.
The fern trees eventually gave way to a sink-hole-like depression 5 meters or so deep with an opening visible about 1/3 the way around the interior wall. The squirrel gestured to a natural looking ramp that lead to the sink-hole floor. Inside it was like a public space at a museum or a park. No place to sit. No signs or indicators. Just a space to “be in” and “move through”. The squirrel went through an opening and hopped up on a large planter with a single tree that could have been from earth. There was a blue mist hanging in the air that seemed to have an order to it - with discreet patterns and densities. Pools of water surround the planter in a semi-circle.
A few moments of addled gawking passed before it occurred to me to put down Ed’s platform. The squirrel swiped its tail-hand through one of the ropes of mist and then scampered up the tree. It picked a single leaf. It came back down and moved towards Ed. Suki put her hand down to block it. The squirrel swung its tail-hand up slowly and took a small bite of the leaf. It gestured at Ed with the rest of the leaf. Suki glanced at me. “Screw it. He’s gonna die soon anyway, ”I said with weary resignation. She moved aside and the squirrel carefully slid the end of the leaf between Ed’s lips.
I stood waiting for someone to usher me into the administrator’s office. I thought back on the previous 3 weeks. Advanced nano tech truly was indistinguishable from magic. The miraculous things it could do. The miraculous repairs it made to our bodies. I was starting to understand it, but we would have missed it all if we hadn’t been willing to trust a squirrel.