ONEIROS

I was as ready as I could be. "Well, let's see this other world." He walked close and grasped the resonator in a sort of pistol grip hold and set something easily with two fingers. With his other hand he gripped my wrist tightly. "Brace your senses. Look at your feet." I watched my shoes and felt a breeze that carried salt and straw smells. My ears felt tight as if they should pop. And the light faded up like a cloud lifting, a yellower sort of light than I expected. I exhaled rapidly and a sense of mild vertigo took me. I looked up as Lyt released my arm and realized that I was outside in a field of yellow grass. We were on a flat stony patch of bare ground and all around was a mostly flat hillside covered with waving fields of yellow grass in all directions. I caught my breath and looked up at the sky. The sun was just a funnier yellow shade than I remembered but otherwise the same. The air smelled good, clean. That strange straw smell was the grass, and the soil was a brownish color. This could have been anywhere on Earth, it was so familiar and simple. Lyt walked forward a few steps and the grass swished over the coat. I reached down and grasped a few of the long, wheat-like blades and pulled a couple free. I sniffed them and crushed them between my fingers, rolling them lightly to free up some essential oil or juice. Another sniff. Yes, straw smell. But the juice that stained my fingers was yellowish also, not at all like the green of any normal grass. This was not dead and dry, it was living and moist. Lyt pointed to a tree some distance off. "The plants here are mostly yellow in color. Some are green and some are violet. Yellow dominates." I started to taste the grass. Lyt warned me. "Ah-ah. I would warn against that. You have no idea what may be in that plant. It could be harmless, it could be toxic. Maybe a hallucinogen or a stimulant. Chemistry is one thing to be very mindful of." I dropped the blades and wiped my fingers on my pants. Lyt led us along a thinning in the grass and pointed out something in the distance. Something white and glistening. "Now what do you suppose that might be?" I looked at the distant thing and thought "glacier". Lyt pulled a small pair of binoculars from a pocket and handed them to me. I placed them over my eyes and peered at the white thing. It was like shields or panels of something. They sometimes fluttered a bit but kept together and made the shape of a long hill. What the hell? I watched carefully for a moment and saw one flake off and fall to the ground. It righted itself and crawled back up where it took its place. It had long, jointed legs and appeared almost like a crab or large insect.