Creative.Metaphor

Colonists
by Robin Zemek

It was a strange land, much like a cave. Sky nestled with the ground in an unending loop, it was oddly comforting. I, like most of the colonists, am always in awe at the scope of it all. It seems one dimensional, stretching only forwards and backwards, a long tube.

We’ve grown used to our surroundings in our few days here. The crops are growing nicely as fertilizer is abundant. Several colonists complain constantly about the smell, but colonization is never without a few nitwits who nitpick everything.

The days are long and light is always a constant worry. Sometimes the sun will disappear for days and sometimes it will shine for days. It is a strange alien world. Unpredictable.

We have yet to see any aliens. Some colonists further down have claimed to see them: huge brownish menaces, rampaging over their crops and leaving everything in disarray. We have sent out men to try and tame these extra terrestrial cattle. Even our best trackers have trouble finding them.

There is no north or south, only east and west. Our compasses don’t work here. Everyone has their own idea why. I think it’s because of the intense deposits of magnetized material nearby. Others think solar flares.

The land here is alien, we have abandoned all rationality. Thus is the way when you colonize a colon. But as we like to say amongst ourselves:

“Better than Uranus.”