Free The Blue Moon - Part 1 - Into the Forest by Nolan Bauerle Page A

of St. John’s help sway them about.
    In this action the trees of St. John’s are remarkable; indeed, the leaves make the Shamrock Forest one of the Solar System’s most beautiful places. The leaves are on one side a light, pale green. The other side is a silvery reflective color, which helps amplify light for the photosynthetic pale green sides. The canopy overhead sparkles and reflects the pale green of the leaves and whatever colors the St. John’s sky happens to be onto the forest floor and all around the lucky visitor. A must see place in the Solar System!

    The forest continued to twinkle pale green all around Emmy and Shankar. Emmy closed her guidebook and returned it to her bag.
    Shankar ended his daydream, walked over to Emmy and said, “We should get moving again.”
    Emmy agreed and they were off in no particular direction, guided only by a sense that they needed to be away from the edge of the forest. It was easy to stay quiet when walking through those woods. The leaves from the St. John’s Tree rarely fell, and when they did, the silver and pale-green sides disintegrated rapidly. All that was left was a scattering of stems and central veins.
    These thin white needles were soft and muffled footsteps instead of being brittle and snapping under the weight of a walking person. They moved along these quiet needles for hours into the evening, until they tired.
    “I don’t think we’ll be too easy to find at this point,” Emmy said, exhausted.
    “We shouldn’t be too quick to assume that. We have no idea what’s looking for us. We can’t afford to assume it’s incapable of finding us quickly and easily. But, we do need rest. It’s late. You sleep, I’ll take first watch.”
    At that late hour, Emmy climbed under her blanket and fell into a restless sleep. The sound of leaves blowing in the gentle wind filled her dreams with sound.
    It was still dark when Emmy awoke. The leaves were no longer swaying. There was no breeze at all and the dead silence was the first thing Emmy noticed. She looked over to Shankar, his eyes opened wide and fixed into the depths of the cavernous forest.
    When he noticed Emmy awake, he put one finger over his closed lips and whispered, “Shhhhhhhh.”
    Emmy nodded, her blood pumping in her ears and the drowsiness draining from her body.
    Shankar whispered again, “It’s 9am.”
    “9am? It’s so late. Why hasn’t the Rock Sun been lit?”
    “I believe the Martians took control of St. John’s last night. This has delayed the work necessary to load the Rock Sun with nuclear explosives.”
    “How could you know that?”
    “Has the Rock Sun ever failed to ignite and start the day? I know there have been surprisingly short days, but never a day that has started so late, I’m certain.”
    “You’re right. It definitely is strange. Also, the wind has been turned off.”
    “Ah, yes, of course. St. John’s wind is generated by turbines. I believe it was at about 7am when the wind died out.”
    “Then, if you’re right, it’s more than the supply lines filling the Rock Sun with nuclear explosives. The Martians might already be in control of the surface. The wind controls are in the Weather Department in Eastern Edge City. But why turn off the wind?”
    “Because the wind in the leaves was providing us with audio cover here in the forest,” Shankar whispered. “The Martians know we’re in here, and they’re looking for us with long ears.”
    Emmy and Shankar sat and ate breakfast without uttering a word. The chilling notion that the Martians might know they were in the Shamrock Forest was enough to keep them silent. Emmy opened two cans of St. John’s White and Grey Soup, which they ate cold. She also served some cold silver leaf tea that she’d brought. They huddled under blankets and ate their cold breakfast feeling the particular sense of gloom that comes when the cold and the dark combine.
    They sat silently until Emmy’s bag, which had been lying sideways,