The Other Earth - Derek Schumacher (good novels to read .TXT) 📗

science. Well, at least no way that Neil was aware of. Who knows just how far the sciences have advanced since his birth, but then again, he didn't really care all that much.

Continuing on the riverside, Neil contemplated multiple things within himself. One of the biggest things was the idea of creating a canteen to hold portable water, to be able to take on expeditions, to be able to make it longer without having to return to home camp and drinking from the river.

Obviously he wouldn't have to worry about that currently, since he was following the river. But, let's say a journey to the north, which would end up being the farthest away from the river. There might be water up there somewhere, but if not, Neil would have to come back at some point. Having a portable water source could prove handy at some point. Just another idea to add to the pool.

Before he knew it, the total time was now at two hours. How did things progress so fast, distance and time? Who knows, maybe distractions are the key to victory. Once again, Neil stopped to observe his surroundings. He had gotten closer to the mountain, but not even a smidge close enough to claim that he was actually near it. The dense eastern forest had grown more jumbled together, the trees practically stuck together. While across the river, trees became much more sparse, as the rocky landscape continued to appear more frequently.

Neil had also noticed that the river had begun to grow larger, mainly in length. Which made the question arise, could there be one of those really amazing mountain lakes up ahead? Putting that thought into his head, it made Neil want to keep going even more. He had always seen pictures of mountain lakes, but to see on in person? The experience must be breathtaking. Or, at least it would be for him.

Finally having a goal in mind, Neil set himself out to find this possible-to-exist mountain lake, and take in the beautiful sight for himself.

Being only two hours into the expedition, Neil began to wonder just how many steps he has taken so far. The average person takes about a two and a half foot stride. Which, would probably in turn be every two steps every second, at least that's what Neil's pace is. Being bored enough makes you count and see how many steps you take in a minute, so he's been doing this for some time now.

Taking it that every second Neil would make about five feet of ground, all he has to do is multiply a whole bunch. First taking the five and multiplying by sixty, for a single minute. This gives that in a minute, he travels around three hundered feet. Impressive, probably.

Now, he would need to take that three hundered, and multiply that also by sixty, for every minute in an hour. This gives the answer of eighteen thousand feet. Good grief, Neil wonders just how incredibly crazy these numbers could get. But, at the same time, nothing beats a little road trip math, now does it?

The next step would be to take eighteen thousand and multiplying it by two, for every hour he had walked so far. This, of course, gives the final answer of thirty-six thousand feet. Or, if he would be so kind to translate that distance into a more well known measure of distance, miles. it would amount to around nearly seven miles. Seven whole miles? Incredible!

Maybe at some point in the future, Neil should retrace his steps, and see just how many he has taken in this little journey of survival. That would certainly be exciting, and also a giant waste of time. Like all of this math! Just doing all these dumb multiplication problems have caused an entire hour to pass by, that's another eighteen thousand feet!

But enough of that, as the mountain grows nearer and nearer with every step, the more suspense grows within Neil as the wondering of the possible mountain lake grows. Just how big could it be? Now that he thinks about it, how long is the river? Maybe that could be an expedition of it's own, possibly in the next day or so. Gee, all this talk of numbers and math sure works up an appetite. Looks like it's more grapples down the hatch.

Eating those little fruits made Neil wonder if there were any other kinds of foods growing on the bushes in the eastern region. He has yet to see any of the other areas even have anything close to what could become food. The west is too wet and the south is too rough. The north is far too dangerous to trek through, unless food is so important to the point where going toe to toe with another shade sounds like a good idea. Which it really doesn't.

Speaking of shades, Neil hasn't seen another one ever since that one in the clearing up north. He's not complaining or anything, he's almost concerned. There is definitly tons of those things roaming around, it's just a matter of time before Neil stumbles upon them. When that day comes, oh boy will it be something to behold.

At this point, It seems another hour or so had passed. Neil had begun to lose track of time, as the walk grew farther and farther from home. He never really stopped to think about it, he was too involved in the possible discovery of the mountain lake to think about it. But now, it might be a bit of a problem. Sure, it might almost be around midday, but still. Getting caught out in the dark is a terrible idea, and isn't one of the things on Neil's bucket list, even if he had such a thing.

Decided it's best to head back towards home base, Neil turns around and looks back the other way. It's a shame he couldn't make it closer to the mountain, but hopefully in due time there will arise a chance for him to do so. Neil would think of it almost as a goal, to see such a thing. And who knows, maybe the lake will be teeming with aquatic life? Or, maybe not. He's got no clue, and he never even thought about it, to check the river and see if anything was swimming around in it.

But then again, when it comes to unfamiliar water, the last thing most people think about doing is sticking their heads in and seeing if they can spot anything. Don't need any unfriendly visitors biting Neil's nose.

The man put his hands in his pockets once again, and began the long walk back home. But, to make things a bit more involved in his head, he brought back up the thoughts of the math behind the distance. Now that he had opproximately walking a total of four hours, which would total out to be seventy-two thousand feet. But, if he were to also make it all the way home, that would add another four or so hours to the mix. Adding this all together, Neil would have walked an astounding one hundered and forty-four thousand feet, or twenty seven miles. How does that even happen?

All this math was tiring, and Neil couldn't wait to get home and take a nice long sleep, or at least try to.

As the man finally reached home base, the sun had slowly begin to set. This was Neil's cue to begin the fire for tonight. Walking inside of his hut, he grabbed some of the twigs and tinder he piled up, and tossed them into the fire hole. Sitting down on the log now, he unsheathed his knife, and grabbed the jagged rock. Once again, he used the two metal objects together to create the sparks to ignite the fire. Before long, the flame was lit, and the warmth was growing.

But, Neil had a brainiac idea. What if he roasted some grapples? He snagged a thin twig, and stuck a few of the small blue fruits onto it. Then, he moved over towards the fire, and hovered the grapples over it. Why did he think this was a good idea? Who knows, but nothing beats a nice warm meal, even if it's fruits.

After waiting a minute or so, Neil began to notice the fruits changing color. From their deep blue, to a bright yellow. How exciting, a color changing fruit! Pulling the grapples from the fire, he poked them to see just how warm they were, which suprsingly wasn't very. Neil then popped one of the cooked fruits into his mouth, and savored it. Where as the blue ones tasted of grape and apple, these yellow ones taste of a lemon and a peach. A "leach".

Feeling proud of his brand new discovery, Neil decided to head to bed. He layed down upon his log, and closed his eyes slowly. It was a good day, full of exploration and discovery, sort of. But the greatest discoveries, always are saved for the next day, as it's never certain what could happen in the future to come.

Forge

Good Morning, Today is September 20, 2118

 

Another morning has arrived, and Neil was ready to get to work. Recieving a decent enough rest, and plenty of time to think, the man now has a clear idea of what he wants to do. Today would be a day of progress, of building.

Neil knew that there was something on the other side of the river. It seemed to be more of a rocky landscape, especially compared to the rest of the regions. Down south was somewhere he hadn't been, so it would be all new experiences from there on out. Thing is, what exactly could be off to the south? Guess there really was only one way to find out.

Getting up off of his log, and finishing off the last of his leaches, Neil walked out of his hut and moved towards the river down south. Looking over to the river, he began to think just how long of a bridge would actually be needed. And, it would need to be relatively sturdy, but nothing too impressive. After all, because of the only berry diet, and the few sips of water every now and then, Neil probably didn't weigh as much as he used to. Not saying he was a fat man back then, but he definitly had more meat on his bones years ago.

Sliding down the hill, Neil made his way to the edge of the river. Looking across, he began to ponder to himself. Sure, he would have to first figure out how long it was, but second of all, he would need to figure out how deep it was. He wouldn't want the wood to up and sink on him. Now that he thinks about it, how is he going to get the wood for a bridge in the first place? Neil began to wonder if you could cut down a tree with a knife. And it sprung an idea!

If he were to take some of those jagged rocks, which were believe to either be flint or some form of metal, and melt them down using fire, he could try and forge an axe to be able