Дмитрий Мансуров - Invasion

The captain took off his helmet and put it on his head with trepidation. This device was worth an unimaginable amount of money, so he avoided using it until now. But that moment finally came. He flicked the switch, and the helmet became poorly lit with pink lights. The glasses showed the world so vividly, as if the captain was really standing right on the ground. On the planet itself, a ghostly phantom appeared, moving according to the commands and transmitting the video signal to the ship via the mega-scanner. From there, it streamed into the helmet and goggles, all in real-time. The captain synchronized his movements with the princes’, stood on the “treadmill”, a so-called flight simulator, and set off. The phantom flew north at the same speed.

At first, the captain dodged the trees, but after failing to do that in one instance, he realized that mega-scanner could slip through any obstacles and surfaces. Rushing straight ahead was unusual, so the captain closed his eyes now and then. Soon, though, he got used to it and increased his speed.

“I hope I won’t forget myself and do the same thing in reality,” the captain muttered from time to time. Getting un-used to the virtual advantages would be tough.

The crow was flying carefully, rising above the trees occasionally to check if the teeth were around. Brontoquack had told her that they came suddenly yet that it was easy to catch their approach by the enchanting singing. Gathering her courage, the crow boldly flew higher, and to her joy, she realized that the teeth were clearly not around. The flight zone was completely clean, so she could fly wherever she wanted! But there was something strange, too. Where were the birds and the insects?

And the ubiquitous sly faces disappeared, as if they’d been licked away.

Deciding to take a break on a high tree, the crow looked for bugs or worms, but they weren’t visible.

“Anyone here?” she shouted. She needed to eat someone!

’Anyone here?’ a resounding echo responded. ‘Anyone here… here… ere… e…’ A nearby tree stirred.

“What’s wrong? Why are you making all this noise?” it asked in a dissatisfied, low voice.

“Aah!” the crow screamed, darting away. Tangled in the branches, she fell to the ground and started to crawl away.

“Where are you?” the tree asked. “What kind of joke is this? You wake me up and hide right away? I’m not playing hide and seek! Come back and tell me why you’re making all this noise.”

The crow ignored the order.

“Okay, let’s play hide and seek!” the tree agreed grimly. “Ready or not, here I come.”

There was a noise like thunder, and then the tree swayed and stirred. The top thinnest branches twitched and quickly got absorbed by larger branches. In turn, they joined the rapidly diminishing trunk. Turning into a tiny sprout, the tree swung, as if looking for a crow, and disappeared completely. The crow flew up, and to her horror, she saw a rapidly growing network of branches right in front of her. Making a steep dive, she turned and flew in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?” the tree protested. “You can’t fly away from me.”

“We’ll see!”

“I had to catch different birds before.”

“And what do I have to do with that?”

“You woke me up and I’ll eat you for it. You look too sporty, but I have no choice.”

The crow chuckled and sat on top of the birch. The tree immediately surrounded her with its branches.

“Got you!” it screamed. “You gave up! Wow, that was fast. All right, I’ll eat you now. I will!” I will!”

“You talk too much!” the crow said, carefully backing away through the single accessible hole. “What a lousy hunter.”

Then she raced toward north. The tree screamed, “Liar! I’ll catch you anyway!”

“I fly fast.”

“I’m not a turtle either!”

“Goodbye!” the crow cooed. The tree plunged into the ground and followed her with rapid speed. The dirt was getting pushed out to the surface because of its volume, which clearly showed where the tree was rushing.

“What an overgrown sprout,” the crow grunted sourly.

The roots of large trees were torn by an underground runner, and small trees jumped along with their roots. The crow saw a rapidly lengthening black line on a green background. The tree was already ahead of her and it was easily repeating her pirouettes and changes of direction. Turning north again, the crow gained altitude and soared. She had a big distance to cover in her fall, so she could relax a bit and take a break. The earth was gradually approaching but the thin black line only became wider. The tree didn’t lag behind.

Once upon a time, when the crow was very young, the old raven told her about the mysterious trees that suddenly came to life and caught little birds who decided to fly at night for dinner. The little crows didn’t believe these stories, so they flew at night and never met anything like that. But as it turned out, the old raven wasn’t out of his mind due to his age. He spoke the truth and made only one mistake. These predatory trees hunted not only at night but also during the day! Perhaps this was what had eaten all the locals and why the forest was dead silent.

The sky was extremely clear. Not a single cloud to change direction and remain unnoticed by the tree. The line of its movements disappeared behind the crowns of the trees, occasionally peeking through the thick foliage. The tree was a stubborn opponent. Or it was very hungry.

“A crawling hunter!” the crow muttered. And suddenly it dawned on her that for the last half an hour, she could hear the soft singing of the flying teeth. The crow was seized by a wild fear, her heart almost jumping out of her beak. She frantically spun on the spot, trying to see a dangerous enemy. And soon she noticed several dots on the horizon.

The tree slowed down. It sensed the powerful waves of fear coming from the crow and was trying to determine what it was about.

The crow swept up, not knowing what to do. If she stayed in the sky, she’d get mercilessly chewed. If she went down, she’d be chewed, too, just as mercilessly. The choice was small and entailed deciding who to give herself for chewing. The crow disliked both options.

The tree became even more interested in seeing what had frightened the bird so much. It stretched out over the forest and turned toward the flying teeth. It wanted to know what feelings were coming from the teeth, but the hatred they radiated hit it so hard that the stunned tree slowly collapsed.

The crow reacted instantly. She dived at top speed and disappeared in the foliage right under the nose of the teeth. There, she grabbed the branch with her beak and froze in anticipation of the enchanting singing. But the teeth took their places in the crowns of the trees, settled back and fell silent. The crow opened her beak and looked at the ground. Maybe the mean tree-hunter was plotting something against her? What she saw plunged her into a deep state of shock. The ground was dotted with crumpled and chewed feathers as well as crushed and simply gnawed bones of birds and animals. The tree was lying in the middle, resembling a dead snake that had choked on hedgehogs and porcupines.

The crow slid to the ground and flew over the layers of bones. She finally realized what it was. A cesspool for the teeth, with the crowns of trees being their home. This was from where they went hunting and where they returned to rest. It was the lair of the predators that made the forest dwellers tremble. The bitten skull of some large animal stared at the crow with empty eye sockets, but it didn’t frighten her. After the nightmare she’d lived through, the crow lost the ability to be afraid, so she felt as if nothing terrible was happening. The fear was gone, leaving a feeling of unreality behind.