Earth Dynamics, part two: Race to Red
Open up for a painting of puzzled dinosaurs
I’m really grateful for the inducement my paid subscribers have given me to try out weird stuff that would have otherwise stayed in my head. The rest of you might not be so lucky – maybe it should still be there!
That said, I’ve enjoyed working on this new piece of fiction I’m calling Earth Dynamics. I envision it as three parts, of which this is the second. The series is inspired by an old 1960s science illustration, with each part offering a different take (you can see the image and read the first part here, if you’d like).
For this installment, I also had a second illustration in mind. When I was still in the single digits, my parents bought me a subscription to a series of hardcover books for kids put out by National Geographic. The one I loved best was called Giants From the Past, which is filled with amazing pictures of prehistoric mammals. Whenever someone brings up “the rise of the mammals” (like they do on the subway, at job interviews, etc.), I think of this painting:
I can’t get over how the dinosaurs are lined up incredulously, their differences temporarily put aside in order to gawk at these audacious newcomers. And then there’s the shrews themselves, who are like, “Yeah, we’re shrews, get over it.” This image was definitely top of mind when I wrote this piece. (Though not the caption. My story - like all of my stories - is highly unscientific.)
If you’re on the fence about trying out a paid subscription, this is a good a time as any to give it a go!
EARTH DYNAMICS
Part 2: Race to Red
She didn’t know she was a new type of animal. She was unaware of her warm blood, oblivious to the novelty of her fur. She only knew two things: Eat and Run. (She had briefly known Fuck, but that came and went so quickly she hardly understood it.) Sleep wasn’t something she knew, but rather a happening beyond choice, inseparable from the mystery of Night and Dawn.
The imperative to Eat had lured her far from the place of her birth. Her memories were nothing but blurry smears of sensation, but she held onto the impression of a nest. It was a warm, soft scramble where Eat came to her, but soon she was forced to go find Eat herself.
While looking for Eat she found Run. She was nibbling a leaf when a new smell made her stop. It was followed by a warmth, which was followed by a sound. She didn’t know what it was, except that she needed to get as far away as possible. Once she was there, it was time for Eat again.
The zig of Eat and the zag of Run continued without a stop. Some days had more Eat than Run, some more Run than Eat. But it was always one or the other.
One day she finally glimpsed one of the things that made her Run. The wind was blowing elsewhere, so she hadn’t caught the smell. One moment she was fixed upon her leaf, the next she looked up to see a shadow choke the sky. She stood paralyzed as it crept toward her, leaning down to sniff. It opened up into two lines of glistening spikes that dripped liquid onto the dirt. It had just reared back to pounce when Run finally kicked in. She was more vigilant after that – if she saw one in the distance, she immediately Ran.
Various terrains dusted her mind with enduring traces of their presence. Many were bodies of water – some serenely exhaling their dampness from across a vast reach, others roaring swiftly and sharply to cleave the landscape apart. Occasionally, stepping onto a ridge, she would feel a gulf of air rise up from all directions and compel her to turn away. The most important places were dense with vegetable smells, which she followed to find things to Eat. The smells told her which among them were safe, and sometimes she would starve through a lush bounty of blooms only to stanch her hunger on wilted greens growing from a jumble of rocks.
Over time, the rocks had become more common, and the leaves progressively sparse. She felt that somewhere behind her lay spots that she once knew, still teeming with flowers and stems. But she never thought to revisit a place that made her Run – and that included every place she’d been.
Early one morning, after Sleep was blown away by the howling wind, she stood upon a precipice. It continued as far as she could sense to either side, and before her was nothing but emptiness. She could detect shapes and lines emerging from that space – but the currents brought no tiding of anything to Eat. She would have to follow the ledge in one direction or the other and hope to find something at the end.
Before she could make a choice, she was distracted by a vision in the distance. Far away – much further than her eyes could clearly see – bright red flashes pierced the dim horizon. Nothing like this had ever entered her world – the color seemed unnatural, the motion slow but relentless. This was a new experience, and she paused to let it drift over her.
By the time she smelled the intruder, it was nearly too late. She heard the footfalls first, and the wave of heat that heralded their advance. There were only two directions to Run, but the time to make a choice had passed. An impulse that she’d never known sent her sailing not here, not there, but beyond. For a few moments, she was a being not of land, but of air.
This transformation lasted only a moment, until the grade of the slope sent her bouncing. Curled in a ball, she rolled, more downward than forward, until the ground tilted back up and eased her to a halt. She shook herself from tip to tail and scampered in a circle to understand what had happened. A rumble above yanked her attention – looking up, she saw her pursuer pace back and forth, furious at its loss. She didn’t know what the predator knew – that it was too large to take the fall. When the beast turned its profile to bound away along the rim, she didn’t wait to see what might happen next.
Turning away from the cliff wall, she found herself surrounded. A squeal, a jump, then a moment to sniff. No, none of these shapes were creatures. Stone behemoths sprouted from the ground, interspersed with cracks and holes that descended into the earth. The many surroundings she’d encountered before all had a single primary feature – they were flat, or they were slanted, or they were green, or they were wet. This place was many things at once – and all they held in common was their barrenness.
She pattered warily through this motley terrain. Every other place she’d been had teemed with life both larger and smaller than herself. It towered above or slithered below, and hers was only a minor part. Here, not even a lonely blade of grass straggled up toward the sun.
And yet, despite the stillness, she had never felt more closely watched. As she scuttled from one cropping to the next, she had no way to articulate the unease she felt. No smells bespoke danger, yet a presence seemed to coil in the shadows.
As she sniffed along the base of an especially rugged scarp, she heard something rustle far above. A panicked lunge is all that prevented her from being pelted by a shower of rock. This was followed moments later by the whistle of a boulder twelve times her size, which shook the earth when it landed mere paces away.
And so began an extended spell of Running, as she tried to shake what she could not see or smell. She left the looming shapes, which provided too many havens for an enemy to hide, and made out for an open plain.
The ground beneath her tired feet began to soften over time, refracting into ever-smaller grains. Her exhausted feet were grateful for the smoothness, and she slowed to an amble, then a stop. The air around her shimmered in the sun, yet she felt compelled to lie down as if it were Night. A moment could hardly hurt.
As warmth enfolded her, a memory of the nest rose from her deepest past. A protective presence stretched around her tiny form, holding her safe from anything that would make her Run. This was the figure who had helped her Eat before she was forced to Eat for herself. How she longed for that presence again, that tranquility, that depth…
The rumbling of her stomach roused her back to attention, and she found herself nearly buried in the sand. One minute more and she would disappear entirely. She shook it off before and continued on her Run, refusing to stop until the ground grew solid again.
By this point the fatigue began to weigh her down again. As the grains grew larger, they maintained a roundness of shape, stacked in mounds as far as she could see. Soon they were larger than her, their gaps providing a pattern of cool, smooth shelters to lie in. And so she did.
She was not accustomed to dreaming – her vision of the nest had been an anomaly. But as she lay in her miniature shelter, she once again relived an instant from her past, not long before her present journey. It began when she encountered a familiar smell – similar but distinct from the nest. It made her insides twirl, and suddenly there was nothing more important than tracking it to its source.
As the smell grew stronger, something leaped out from under a bush. They tumbled together for a few moments, but she found herself uninterested in trying to escape – instead, she pushed closer toward it. For a few brief moments she felt that it was tearing her open, and yet she wasn’t frightened by the pain. And then it ended. She barely saw its tail disappear back under the bush. She stood there, letting the smell linger, until the need to Eat drew her away once again.
As she twitched with bygone desires, she felt a pressure on all sides. She was expanding, growing too large to fit – the stones were closing in, beginning to crush her…
She squealed and attempted to break way, but the stones held her fast. How had she managed to squeeze into this space? More importantly, how would she get out? She thrust one tiny claw through a gap, and then another. Scrabbling with all her might, she pushed aside a pebble and pulled herself closer to freedom. But her legs held fast, as if something were trying to pull her back down.
Her predicament was so serious that getting grabbed up was a relief. But the feeling disappeared when she smelled what had grabbed her. It had found its way into the basin and tracked her to this spot – a more single-minded devotion to Eat than even she could boast. Raised up by the scaly talon, she pumped her legs in fear, but there was no way to Run. As she rose up toward the hunter’s mouth her eyes again caught the glowing red marks that she had observed from the canyon rim. They were much larger now, shimmering with an energy that filled her with equal parts peace and dread. She ceased squirming and let herself stare.
The creature must have seen the reflection of the light in her eyes, because it too stood still for a moment, transfixed. But Eat must have its way, and so the jaws began to creak open. The mouth pitched toward her trembling form… and then turned, puzzled, to the side. After several jerks, it dropped her, untouched, to the stony ground.
She only paused long enough to see that its long, strong tail was caught between some rocks. If she was capable of analysis, she might have wondered what force could have held it so fast, or how it slipped between them in the first place. But that wasn’t the kind of mind she had, and so she Ran without a thought.
But there is more than one reason to Run. All she knew was Run Away, but her enemy was an expert at Chase. It had risked too much to let her slip free. A roar of pain and fury, followed by a clatter of stones, and it was on her tail once again.
The ensuing chase was unlike anything either had encountered. A rushing valley stream swiftly flooded at their approach, barely allowing them to cross. Ridges teetered backwards the higher they climbed. But ahead of them, the glowing red grew closer and closer. The smells that came from that direction were harsh and unpleasant, yet they seemed to draw her closer.
In a moment, the ground thundered beneath her feet. A crack opened up before her, thinner than one of her toes. She leaped over it, but another appeared right beyond it, then another. They widened with every step, as the shaking surface jerked her in every direction. Her pursuer took advantage to bound ever closer. The next fissure seemed too wide to span, but vaulting it was her only chance.
She felt the emptiness expand beneath her. The crevasse cascaded backward. Time stood still as she traced her arc, and she was barely aware of the clatter and crash of her attacker being consumed.
Extended to their full length, her tiny claws only just reached the far side – but it was enough. She pulled herself half up to the surface. Her heart begged her to finish, but she was shaking so hard she could barely hold on.
And then she saw it – the pulsing red mountain before her. Waves of heat brushed against her face as color cascaded in all directions. Beyond it, more still smoldered off to the sides. Some peaks were completely enveloped in brightness, others shot liquid fire to pierce the darkening sky above.
In that moment, deep in the heart of this unassuming creature, the concept of awe was born. This spectacle provided nothing tangible – it did not help her Eat or Run – and yet, she felt a need for it, as vast as the need for her nest, or for the fleeting sensation of Fuck. In some ways, it was bigger than any of those things, because she understood that what she saw had existed long before her, and would exist long after she was gone.
As this certainly swelled in her bones, something larger shifted around her. It was as if the land exhaled – she no longer felt afraid. Her grip on the ledge grew stronger, and the ground seemed to pull her forward of its own accord. As she stepped back onto solid ground, for the first time since the nest she felt peaceful and safe.
But not the hunter. With a bellow fit to shake the sky, it dragged itself to the rim. Its hot breath slapped her off her feet. The dusty hooks wove around her trembling form and drew her back toward its slavering mouth.
But then it dropped her again. The crevasse slammed shut around it, and it wailed in a refreshment of agony. She Ran toward the red flows, hardly knowing why, but before she could reach them it had wrestled free and come after her again. The very ground parted to quicken her progress. Obstacles rolled out of her way into the intruder’s path, but it had grown wild with determination. This was no longer about Eat, but Win.
As they neared the red, the heat grew even stronger. Normally she would turn away from such discomfort, and yet she felt compelled to carry on – the path opened up before her, and she allowed herself to follow it. Suddenly, a tall black rock loomed before her. It was too big to go around, so she hopped up and scurried to its summit.
But as she reared back to jump off the other side, her feet held fast to the stone. She twisted back to see the creature running toward her. Its mouth was wide enough to swallow her in one go. Had she Run this far only for this?
She didn’t actually see it get swept away. One moment it was about to pounce, the next it was consumed by a wave of hot red fury. The torrent surrounded her rock on all sides, leaving her stranded above a boiling plain.
The heat began wound its way inside her, through her mouth and ears and eyes. She began to choke and retch. But suddenly, the rock she writhed upon became unmoored. Red currents carried her further away from the epicenter of heat. She breathed more easily, until finally all of the color was behind her. The rock hardened back into the ground, which was now cool enough for her to alight upon.
She once again stood at the bottom of a cliff. But this time, there was a clear path in front of her, which switched back from one side to the other to let her climb with ease. Once she found her way to the top, she turned back and gazed once again upon the glowing streams that conspired to save her life.
She birthed her litter in view of these fiery slopes. Her children would know Eat and Run, just as she did. But she also gave them something she had learned, something she herself hadn’t been born with. It would be passed along to their own litters, and to their litters’ litters. She had learned something from the earth itself, and the earth was surprisingly grateful.
Part 3 coming soon!