EARTH PLAN Read Online Free PDF Page A

again. But the door didn’t move.
    She did this a few more times, and still there was nothing, no movement from the door.
    Finally, she ran through the doorway, thinking she would take her chances with what was on the other side, rather than be stuck in the room any longer. She was glad she did, because after the dark corridor she ran through, she could see green ahead. Trees and grass, she thought. She hoped.
    She was right, and she stepped out of the dark, metal corridor onto green grass, with brightness shining down from above. But it was not like the Sun she knew, and not like the Earth she knew. Still, it was better than being in the room, and there were no things that were attacking her. And it was daytime, it seemed.
    She cautiously took a few more steps onto the grass, peering around. It felt good on her feet, and the suns, or whatever they were, felt warming and nice on her skin. She wondered why there was more than one sun, now, and why they were smaller—but she didn’t worry about it too much. She sighed, as she felt a measure of freedom and relief that she’d not had since she’d been taken on the ship.
    She moved around the field and took some fruits to eat that she could find. She saw some of the small animals and thought about how they might be to eat. She felt a craving for meat, as she had not had any in some time. Neither she nor the man had been given any meat since they had been on the ship. That would mean killing the animals the ship had taken for samples, and that was too risky to do, as there were not a lot of backups of the animals.
    There were live animals of each type the ship could find, and also some had been put into cold suspension for safekeeping. The ship was able to synthesize amino acids into a protein food substance that was grown from algae on the ship. This it fed to the humans and the animals onboard. The ship kept careful watch over its charges, scanning them, seeing that their basic bodily requirements were met, despite what they might have been used to eating.
    The woman sat in the tall grass, eating an apple and looking around. She saw some larger animals running through the field, some buffalo and gazelles. She looked for any lions that might come by and kill some of them for a meal, but saw none. And she would see none; the ship kept the predators quarantined so they would not kill off the rest of the animals that had been set out in the field.
    The man, who was on the other side of the field, heard the hoofs of the animals and also looked up to watch them. He thought about hunting them, but he had no spear or rock to throw. It would be very hard to catch any of the animals without those. He did still have his stick. Maybe if he could make it sharp on the end? He tried, but the stick was thin, likely to break if he tried to use it to hunt.
    He felt dejected and was about to give up and have a nap when he saw a naked woman walking in the grass, coming his way.
    His first reaction was to duck down and hide. He lay down in the tall grass. Who was she? What did she want? Was she carrying any weapons?
    Slowly, he moved his head up until he could see her again, hoping she could not see him. He wanted to be able to surprise her and jump out when she got close. Then he’d see if she were friend or foe.
    Through the tall grass he watched her. He liked the way she looked. She was an adult but on the younger side, slender and attractive. She moved with grace, running her hands over the grass as she walked. She looked happy to be walking there. He didn’t blame her, as it was better to be walking there than to be stuck in the room. He wondered if she had also been kept in a place like that, and if she had also been dragged in here by terrifying creatures. Then, she was only a few steps from him.
    He jumped up and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her down.
    She screamed and hit at him with her fists. He let her go and threw her away from him a few feet. He watched her, and she backed up,