Mars Bar

One fine day you are walking along enjoying the blue sky and the soft breeze. The sun is shining, dogs are barking, sprinklers are sprinkling. You have a candy bar in your hand which you chew on happily. In short, life is good.

And as you are walking, you spot something on the sidewalk in front of you. Cautiously you approach. Oh, wow, it's another candy bar! And it hasn't been opened.

You look around to see if anyone dropped this candy bar and is coming back for it. Seeing no one, you excitedly pick it up. But before your exclamation of joy fully escapes your lips: Wham-POW!

You are standing in a dark, cold room. You are only mildly concerned until you take your first breath. There is no air.

You panic.

The candy bars drop from your trembling fingers as you pull out your trusty Zippo. A flame sparks but won't ignite. Of course not, you think. Not without air. You curse their design flaw and lack of foresight.

But in the dull and desperate sparks you see them. Two creatures: large glossy shapes towering over you. Tentacles curl towards you. And the eyes, you'll never forget the eyes!

Madly you fling your useless lighter at them and turn, to run. All is black. You have no idea where or what is around you and before your brain can reason with your body about this, your head hits some low hanging equipment and sends you sprawling. As your extremities go numb you are faintly aware of blood trickling down your chin. Then tentacles slide over you and all is gone. You feel no more.

You have passed out.

Yes, you have just fallen prey to one of the oldest tricks in the book: bate humaning. Don't you feel foolish? You took the bate, line and sinker.

The hyper-dimensional aliens retrieve their bate, an innocent looking Mars bar, and reset their Dimensional Portal for their next catch. Bip'tixo, the smaller of the two aliens (and consequently the younger though that is not always the case) drags your body to yet another portal. Deftly his tentacles put in the coordinates for one of his favorite locales on earth. He hits the happy green button that you just know says 'On' even if you can't detect their odor based writing. He throws you through, then washes his tentacles twice and complains to his companion about how dry and rough you were. One tentacle itches his plaid covered stomach while another cracks open their version of a beer.

You come to and find a phone and call home immediately. You explain the above story first to your mom, then your dad, but they just won't believe it. They tell you to stop joking and be home for dinner by six.

Well, maybe they are right. You do have a very active imagination. But, if it didn't happen, you ponder as you stroll down the road, how in the world did you end up at a McDonald's in Amsterdam?

And, as you walk along the sidewalk puzzling it out, you pass a good Mars Bar on the ground. It’s unopened and looks fresh. You hesitate, but no, you're not hungry right now. Better not risk it...

Safety Blue

La la la la
Drink Safety Blue
La di da da
They won’t come for you.
And you need not fear
For you
La la la la
You drink Safety Blue
La di da da
And they won’t come for you!

What a stupid song. The lyrics are juvenile. The melody is sickeningly alluring. But then, it was supposed to be. It does catch on. It gets stuck in your head and refuses to leave. When I awake in the dark of night that song often fights its way into my head. I shout, sing, beat it out. But it never leaves for long. La la la la…

Whoever created it thought they had made something snappy. They were right. Every man, woman and child in the colony knows Safety Blue by heart. While shopping, people hum it. I even caught my dad bellowing it in the shower the other day. It is everywhere! They taught it to us first thing in preschool. They drill us with it in high school. That’s not enough; they saturate our life with it through TV and music. Every station plays the darn song at some point during each program. La di da da…

Our culture is a Safety Blue culture!

It is sickening! I can’t even stand the taste of Safety Blue. I don’t think anyone can. My parents screw up their faces every morning when they drink it. My little sisters mix theirs with orange juice. I don’t care what anyone says about it; they’re lying.

I’ve been studying 21st century advertising and marketing techniques in one of my classes. Interesting stuff. They used to create songs back then to sell products. They called them ‘jingles.’ Some big company would pay an advertising firm to come up with a snappy jingle to sell their new product. The jingle would then be released on radio, in TV commercials, or before movies. It too would stick in peoples’ heads and they would go out and buy whatever the jingle promoted. Just like that, they’d go out and buy it!

Well, I think someone did his homework as the new colony was getting started. That someone was R.G. Hughlilly. He revived the dreaded jingle. And it still works. Every last person in the colony drinks his product religiously. No exceptions! I’ve been checking. And every one of them is convinced if they stop ‘they’ will come for them. Not a bad way to keep your customers loyal and coming back, now is it? Drill into them that if they stop buying the stuff, they will die. ‘They’ are coming to get you. Hughlilly has imprisoned us all.

I know I am still young, but I’ve never seen ‘they’ come for anyone or show any form of aggression in my life. The Bearfalo don’t even fight amongst themselves. They are content to graze night and day on the soft grasses that surround the colony. Often they graze inside the colony on our plants as well. No one truly fears them any more.
But they did once. And R.G. Hughlilly knew that well.

My research brought me to the very beginnings of our colony. The first party to land on the planet was killed. The second party landed to recover them. They reported large furry creatures with powerful front limbs attacking their ship, the bearfalo. The creatures move on either four legs or upright on two. They had small horns and blunt claws. They reminded the second party of a cross between buffalo and bear.
The third landing party set up a fortress-like stockade and got a firm foothold on the planet. Dad said the stockade finally collapsed right before my birth. It used to surround the town building and Mayor’s office. I found pictures of it. The bearfalo were kept out as the settlers arrived. Twice they broke through. They crashed in doors and pulled people out of their beds. Eight people died the first time and five the second. Many were wounded before the animals were stopped. In the following months, ten more settlers were killed. But always outside the stockade.
And R.G. Hughlilly stepped up with his new elixir. He cited the work of fellow scientists stating that the bearfalo’s aggression might result from human pheromones. It was a ridiculous theory and the colony laughed him to scorn. But Hughlilly was relentless. He started his advertising and wrote his jingle. He even moved his factory outside the stockade to show that Safety Blue really did work. And ever so slowly he won the people over. Convinced, they started buying Safety Blue daily and telling their children stories of the once terrible bearfalo.

That is how it used to be. Dad told me those stories too when I was very young. But no one cares anymore. My little sisters have never heard about the aggressive bearfalo other than what is alluded to by the jingle.

Hughlilly was lucky and knew how to play off of a coincidence. He, or more correctly his son since R.G. passed away several years ago, is by far the richest person in the colony.

And so it is that I decided to stop drinking Safety Blue. Through this journal I hope to reveal the corrupt power that R.G. Hughlilly has wielded over our naive colony.

One week has passed. At first nothing happened. My parents caught on after two days and told me I was foolishly endangering the entire family. We had a fight. Dad kicked me out.

I am living with my Fiancée. She is worried but supportive. She sleeps in a different room, as is proper, though with the door locked just in case. Just in case what? In case they come? It makes me chuckle. I hope she doesn’t keep it up.

Today the first incident occurred. I say incident, but it was really nothing. That darn song has just made us all paranoid.

I was walking home from the school along the Easthill trail as a herd of bearfalo sauntered across. I walked around the herd, showing them the due respect they deserve. They are very large and impressive, after all. While walking backwards observing the herd’s reaction to me, I bumped into a straggler. I gasped and stepped back. The bearfalo stood up and watched me as I walked away. It dropped back down and followed me for almost a minute. At one point it was right next to me and sniffed my hand. I patted its side. It then rejoined the herd.

I smile trying to imagine the beast as aggressive. Shannon just locked her bedroom door. I believe she does this more out of distrust of me than of the bearfalos. Whatever. Good night.


Thursday: the second incident happened today. I was out running with Shannon on the far side of the colony. A large herd was grazing on the side of the hill above us. Shannon touched my elbow and I instinctually stopped. Above us the herd was silent. None were grazing. They just watched us. Shannon’s look told me that they looked not at us: they looked at me. She shuddered and ran back to the colony without waiting. The bearfalo in the back of the herd stood up. They all faced me and seemed to be waiting for something. None of them blinked.

I tell you it was eerie, but I am confident. It was coincidence.

Today I got unlucky. After lunch I was on my way to school. A group of elementary students was walking the same direction. There was a very small heard just off the trail grazing; four or five animals. One of the kids threw a girl’s computer at the herd. It hit the side of a bearfalo and fell to the ground. The darn animal didn’t even look up. Being closest, I walked over to pick it up for the girl. The bearfalo turned and looked at me, its eyes wide and black. I picked up the little computer just as one of the males pushed past the grazing females and stood erect ten feet from me. It was massive. The thing let out growl that set my knees shaking. When I didn’t move, it immediately bellowed in a manner I interpreted as hostile. I never knew they could open their mouths that wide. I never knew they had several large, sharp teeth amongst their molars either. Needless to say the kids burst out crying and I caught myself singing that cursed jingle to calm them.

I know, right? A bearfalo growls at me. Can I still pass this off as coincidence?


Saturday: I am paranoid. Every time I go out, there is a bearfalo sitting alone watching me. No matter where I go. Mere chance…but it is always there. Yesterday’s accident has done more than enough to make me fear “them” coming for me. I have spent the afternoon and evening in the apartment.

Shannon got home and yelled at me. I tried to take it stoically but fear I failed. She ended up in tears and locked herself in the other room.

I am awake stewing angrily. There have been too many coincidences this week. Shannon has awoken and is sobbing herself back to sleep. I long to hold her but she won’t let me in. She says I have to start drinking Safety Blue.

The noises are happening again. They are quiet and indistinct. There is no pattern; they come sporadically once or twice an hour. I don’t need to go to the window and look to feed my curiosity. I know. ‘They’ are sniffing around. Worse, I fear Shannon may hear. I don’t want to worry her. I don’t want to hurt her.


Last night I slept little.

By sunrise I had resolved to leave my fiancée for a bit. Just in case there might actually be any credence to the whole Safety Blue issue, you know. I sprinted through the streets as the sun peaked over the hills. One solitary bearfalo followed me through the colony, far in the distance. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to harm anyone. I needed to be somewhere alone.

I am in the colony detention building, one of the sturdiest buildings on the planet. My employee password and palm print were all I needed to get in. The building is entirely automated. It is quiet; there haven’t been prisoners here for more than a year.


I stopped on the way and bought some Safety Blue. I’ve drunk four now and think I’m going to vomit. It hasn’t done any good. As soon as it was dark they came. I couldn’t believe what the surveillance cameras showed me.

They are strong; much stronger than any of us thought. And they are smart. It has been only an hour and these grazing animals have broken into the building through the security gates. They are coming for me.

The power just went out. I write in darkness. I am now locked in the containment cell. The door is solid steel. I should be good until morning…but will they leave when the suns rises?

Oh no, they are against the door. Their howling is terrifying. Their claws, their claws...

They have come for me. There is nothing I can do. If I don’t survive this, whoever finds this journal, please give it to my family. Oh my fiancée, please, tell Shannon I’m sorry. I’m oh so very sorry. Why didn’t I listen to her? Why didn’t I believe? Tell her I love her so much.

And tell my friends, all of them, that it is true: drink Safety Blue and they won’t come for you!

First Visitor

1-02-070808

Radeon sat in his cabin. It was raining. A small fire burned in the corner giving little heat and no light. Radeon was trying to read something but the lone light bulb kept flickering. Rain leaked through the roof and was dripping on it. It would short out soon, but Radeon was too tired to worry about it. His doorbell rang. He forced himself to his feet and opened his cabin’s crumbling wood door. Beyond was blackness. He blinked. Then the smell of decaying flesh hit him. His stomach turned.

Radeon awoke. The door was open again and light splashed across the wall at his head. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, dazed. He was trembling slightly. Nice dreams seemed the rarity, but waking was often not much better. He had his health, his cabin, tracks of land to wander, and a peace he had never before known. Yet, despite my denial, I remain somber at best. My thoughts are shadowed and my best days edged with tension.

I am alone. Alone… the door shouldn’t be opening like this. Radeon sat up in bed. Maybe a hinge was loose. Radeon threw his legs out of bed and moved to the door. No tracks once again. Mild wind. No horses in sight. Hmmm, they’ve broken free of the hitching post again. No ropes hung from the pole. The top log had come unlashed in the night and the horses had slid the ropes off the free end. Smart horses. He’d better go find them before they were too tangled up in the dense forest.

Radeon closed and opened the door a few times. The latch, though rudimentary, was sufficient. The hinges, greased with animal fat, were fluid. The door was solid. No cracks. Radeon shrugged and left it open as he strolled into the meadow. He spied the horses at the far end of the clearing. One had its long lead caught in the branches and was stuck. The other two looked at Radeon sheepishly. He shrugged at them, then circled around the cabin and took a long drink from the pond. His water garden, a variety of weeds that flourished in fresh water, was doing quite well. He plucked up a fist full and chewed on them as he plopped down under the small awning over the cabin door.

The sun was low yet. Several deer were cautiously eying him from forest edge. The birds were chirping their melodious songs. Radeon let out a sigh and his eye slowly closed. Nature’s songs faded so rhythmically into silence that Radeon didn’t even notice.

Radeon opened his eyes with a start. The light was different; the shadows had crept down onto him. Over an hour had passed. He rose to his feet.

He entered the cabin, closing the door tightly behind him and dropped his tight shorts. As he chose a pair of longer pants and slid them on the door popped open a crack. Radeon rolled his eyes. What on earth was wrong with that darn door?

Radeon stopped moving. He wasn’t sure but something had caught his attention. Sound. There was no sound outside. The birds were silent.

As Radeon thought quickly on what that could mean the door opened the rest of the way. There was a shriek, not harsh, but of surprise and then rapid movement. Radeon cursed as he spun around, too slow to see anything.

He dropped his pants and jumped outside. He was sure it was human, probably one of the boys from the distant village. Odd, though. Why would they hide?

Radeon ran to the other side of the cabin and saw tracks near the pond in the soft mud. It was female, judging by the thinness of the track. Radeon caught his breath: she was wearing rubber soled shoes. The treads were deep indicating that they were new. Shoes.

He could hear her crashing away through the forest. Branches swayed where she had passed. He dashed deftly through the forest. He didn’t need to follow her, though. He would cut her off at the trail down off the plateau. There was only one and unless she had advanced technology she would have to descend there. She had shoes though, so he couldn’t rule out the technology possibility. But what of it? He would find her even out of practice as he was. He was sure.

Emerging from the trees at the overgrown trailhead, Radeon stopped. He could hear her still. She was about to make it through the forest and to the grassy edge of the plateau. She was making good time too.

Radeon hunched down and sat on the ground. He bowed his head and took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. His heart was pounding with excitement and also fear. What is she doing here? Why did she come and find me just to run? Just as the idea that she might not be friendly was dawning on him the crashed through the last of the dense underbrush and stopped right in front of him.

She blurted several phrases that Radeon couldn’t understand.

Radeon remained sitting, which took considerable control due to his fear. The was a good height, slender build, and quite toned. She was panting hard but was doing well to keep it hidden. She had long braided brown hair and a smooth face. She had on full clothing of synthetic fibers and several electronic gadgets. Electricity. Radeon’s head spun remembering electricity. He forced the thoughts out, recognizing that she was indeed a direct threat.

“Let me go.” The woman warned. Woman was indeed a better description than . She radiated a strong energy, something stable and subtle that shocked Radeon. It made him tremble.

“I don’t have you,” Radeon said with much effort. She had switched to a local dialect similar to what the prairie tribe spoke. This too shocked him.

“Look, please, just let me pass and we’ll forget this ever happened. I promise I won’t remember this place. I’ll never mention your face and you don’t have to worry, I haven’t seen anything.” Her words took on a pleading note, but her body hadn’t changed its stance. She was tense, muscles rigid, and ready to fight.

Radeon didn’t know what to think. You come to me and now act like a trapped animal? He had not spoken to another person in months. Slowly, remembering the words, he said, “You are free to leave the way you came. I have no intentions of stopping you.” He was lying and his words had a physical affect on her. She actually scowled and raised her fists. Did I say something wrong? Can she sense my fear?

“What is this, a game?” She growled.

“Please, tell me you—you tell me?” Radeon stumbled.

“What?”

“You came to me. You opened my dur, uh…door. I didn’t ask you to come and I won’t force you to stay. First though, I want to know who you are, why you came, and how you found me.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “What are you trying to pull? I don’t understand.”

“Which didn’t you understand?” Radeon asked sincerely concerned he had spoken incorrectly.

“I know you get nothing from letting me live. What do you get out of hunting me down after I run? Is it some kind of pleasure to you? You killed the others easily enough, why not shut up and get on with it?”

Radeon wasn’t sure he understood everything clearly. His confusion was outweighing his fear. He’d been chased, captured, hunted even, but no one had acted like this around him.

“Explain to me why I would want you dead? But I agree, obviously letting you go may be foolish,” Radeon said. He didn’t want his location known.

“Oh no, I’ll tell you nothing.” She slowly started backing towards the trees. She kept her arms up in a defensive stance.

“Did you say I killed others? Which others? What do you know?”

“You , shut up and let’s end it.”

“What? Who are you?”

“Shut up,” She screamed.

Radeon was totally caught off guard. What is going on? Nothing added up. He couldn’t understand her completely, but it was obvious she was terrified of him. Why? She actually believed he was going to kill her. That doesn’t fit. Why? She found me; she must know enough about me? Why would she think I would kill her?

“What, is this a game?” He asked. “Who sent you?” She backed away a step farther. “Who do you work for? Which…” he had no idea of how to say government or company in this language. He had never needed to before.

It didn’t matter; the woman was speaking frantically in her native language. Radeon took a deep breath to calm himself. He was still terrified, but his curiosity and confusion had taken over.

And he suddenly realized he was sitting in front of an actual woman. He had been alone so long he hadn’t even thought about clothes in his rush. Embarrassed, he look up at her. Right then she kicked him in the head as hard as she could.

There was a crunch, flashes and stars. Radeon fell over on his back and grabbed his nose. Blood flowed through his fingers. He jumped up and turned to the woman. She had distanced her self and was pulling a small weapon from an internal pocket in her clothing.

This was totally unexpected from her. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?” She didn’t even hesitate. Radeon only had time to widen his eyes in surprise before she fired. He took the blast directly to the chest. A searing fire burned into him as he was knocked from his feet. He was gone before he hit the ground.

Intro to Citizen Soldier

1-01-070708

Dead bodies lay all around him. He sat on a twisted spire that snaked up out of a murky blackness. Above him dangled a lone light bulb. It flickered weakly. Radeon stood, the spire shifted under him and several of the bodies rolled towards him. He swallowed his revulsion and reached for the bulb. It swung just out of his reach in some invisible breeze. He didn’t dare jump. The blackness was growing, the bulb dimming. He had to reach it, it was his only chance.

The door opened causing light to spill across the cluttered room. Radeon opened his eyes. The light’s harsh brightness caught him completely by surprise. His eyes narrowed to slits, adjusting as he tried to place where he was. There was no one in the doorway. His mind raced as to possible reasons his door would open as he climbed out of bed and stalked across the floor. His eyes could now make out the landscape through the doorway. There was no wind; neither grass nor tree swayed. There were no obvious footprints in front of the door. One of his horses was grazing, he could see, at the feet of the trees circling the little meadow surrounding his cabin; there was no other movement and no other sounds.

Cautiously Radeon paused inside the doorway before leaning his head out and checking side to side.

Nothing.

Radeon’s right hand found its way to his red hair and tugged at the knots the night’s sleep had left, then stroked his wiry beard. His left fiddled with the door latch. A yawn escaped and he stretched. He had never received unwanted visitors. And he wanted it that way. He did all he could to ensure it. But after so long now, he was beginning to get lonely.

He put on deerskin pants and rough sandals fashioned from tree bark. Finally he wandered out into the bright day. The sun was high. He had over slept. His mind chided him but the fact only encouraged another longer stretch. What did it matter? Radeon had accomplished more than he had planned the day before. He had repaired his roof, filled his water barrels, and adjusted his hitching post (his horses had managed to untie themselves the night before and run off). His garden was weeded. The corn was already chest high. Summer was passing so quickly. Radeon didn’t have much time until he would be harvesting. He had planted enough to feed an entire tribe. It kept him busy and he would dry the corn for meal or trade it with his distant neighbors come fall.

Idly Radeon plucked a small tomato off the vine. It was still a little green but would suffice. He bit into it and paused as he chewed. There were tracks around the vines; Radeon stooped to the ground finding several vines damaged. The rabbits had been by last night. Well, they weren’t rabbits but they were similar enough to be called so.

The tracks led off to the east but one pair led to the south where the forest was densest. Radeon thought he had trapped and eaten all the rabbits that lived in that part. Obviously he presumed too much. Well, he would share his crop with them the rest of this year. Let them reproduce and multiply so that next year he could continue to have young, tender hares for supper.

He took another bite of the tomato as he strolled from the garden. One of his horses looked up at him as he passed. Its tail whipped lazily, almost as if a greeting.

Radeon headed into the forest north of the cabin.

There were no trails leading to his dwelling. Trails, he felt, were not very pleasant to the eye. Radeon liked the undisturbed look of the forest as he sat out in the evenings watching the sun set. So he always took a different way through the forest. Plus the animals responded better without him tearing up the land. At least he thought so.

The snares he had set were still bare. Radeon moved on to his right and after several minutes leisurely walk he came to the beginning of the eastern batch of snares. Two plump birds caught! Well, that was quite nice for a days work. They were big. If the snares here had done so well he decided he had better make a complete circle of the plateau checking the rest of the snares. With luck he may have more.

Sure enough, after checking all his traps, he had four birds hanging from his hand and one fat squirrel. He would have meat for many days without worrying. That called for the weekend off. Off to do what, he wondered?

The sun was now much higher. It was getting to midday. While out, he might as well take a look off the edge. He strolled through the trees and came to a grassy strip that sloped downward. Walking to the edge of the grass he stopped at the top of a massive cliff, the west rim of the plateau on which he lived. It afforded quite a view. Prairie grasslands stretched away from him as far as the eye could see. To the north, mountains ran along, and over, the horizon; their beautiful peaks hidden by a bank of clouds.

All was peaceful.

Radeon sighed. Time was passing so swiftly. It was summer. Before finding the plateau, he had had a brief stay with the tribe of Indians that inhabited the valleys tucked in those mountains. And before that Radeon tried not allow his mind to venture. There was much pain and confusion. Suddenly he found himself in the black, on the spire again. He could smell the rotting corpses around him.

Radeon released his grip on the strands holding his birds. His hand had tensed with his thoughts. He calmed his breathing and marveled at how quickly he had become nervous. I can’t run forever, he thought. Indeed he wondered if he could even run at all anymore. But that can be a topic for a darker day. Let me pretend happiness yet another day. What was the purpose?

But he was sure within the end of summer one of his neighbors would be stopping by with provisions to trade and stories to share. They always came during the harvest. Radeon smiled. Last fall he had just finished dredging the pond behind the cabin. He had told Kuy’huy and Poi’huy of his giant garden and how quickly the plants had grown in the lands virgin soil. Sure enough the boys showed up one moon later with several horses. Radeon had bartered them out of a horse for all the vegetables they could carry, the likes of which they had never seen. A smile crossed his face remembering the trouble they had gotten into when Chief Ckon found out. This time they would not send boys to trade with him nor allow him to barter for a horse. Horses are far too valuable to the Indians since the raids and wars started among the tribes.

Quickly Radeon turned his back to the prairie below and let all his thoughts fall behind. He hiked the half-mile back to his cabin and turned his full attention to cleaning his catch and storing it.

Ah summer and its warm lazy days, Radeon thought with mixed emotion. Perhaps he should try and build something while he had a day or so of free time?

Safety Blue

La la la la
Drink Safety Blue
La di da da
They won’t come for you.
And you need not fear
For you
La la la la
You drink Safety Blue
La di da da
And they won’t come for you!

What a stupid song. The lyrics are juvenile. The melody is sickeningly alluring. But then, it was supposed to be. It does catch on. It gets stuck in your head and refuses to leave. When I awake in the dark of night that song often fights its way into my head. I shout, sing, beat it out. But it never leaves for long. La la la la…

Whoever created it thought they had made something snappy. They were right. Every man, woman and child in the colony knows Safety Blue by heart. While shopping, people hum it. I even caught my dad bellowing it in the shower the other day. It is everywhere! They taught it to us first thing in preschool. They drill us with it in high school. That’s not enough; they saturate our life with it through TV and music. Every station plays the darn song at some point during each program. La di da da…
Our culture is a Safety Blue culture!

It is sickening! I can’t even stand the taste of Safety Blue. I don’t think anyone can. My parents screw up their faces every morning when they drink it. My little sisters mix theirs with orange juice. I don’t care what they say about it, they’re lying.

I’ve been studying 21st century advertising and marketing techniques in one of my classes. Interesting stuff. They used to create songs back then to sell products. They called them ‘jingles.’ Some big company would pay an advertising firm to come up with a snappy jingle to sell their new product. The jingle would then be released on radio, in TV commercials, or before movies. It too would stick in peoples’ heads and they would go out and buy whatever the jingle promoted. Just like that, they’d go out and buy it! They got so good at jingles that Government started passing laws against them.

Well, I think someone did his homework as the new colony was getting started. That someone was R.G. Hughlilly. He revived the dreaded jingle. And it works still. Every last person in the colony drinks his product religiously. No exceptions! I’ve been checking. And every one of them is convinced if they stop ‘they’ will come for them. Not a bad way to keep your customers loyal and coming back, now is it? Drill into them that if they stop buying the stuff, they will die. ‘They’ are coming to get you. He has imprisoned us all.

I know I am still young, but I’ve never seen ‘they’ come for anyone or show any form of aggression in my life. The Bearfalo don’t even fight amongst themselves. They are content to graze night and day on the soft grasses that surround the colony. Often they graze inside the colony on our plants as well. No one truly fears them any more.

--p2--

But they did once. And R.G. Hughlilly knew that well. My research brought me to the very beginnings of our colony. The first party to land on the planet was killed. The second party landed to recover them. They reported large furry creatures with powerful front limbs attacking their ship, the bearfalo. The creatures move on either four legs or upright on two. They had small horns and blunt claws. They reminded the second party of a cross between buffalo and bear.

The third landing party set up a fortress-like stockade and got a firm foothold on the planet. Dad said the stockade finally collapsed right before my birth. It used to surround the town building and Mayor’s office. I found pictures of it. The bearfalo were kept out as the settlers arrived. Twice they broke through. They crashed in doors and pulled people out of their beds. Eight people died the first time and five the second. Many were wounded before the animals were stopped. In that period ten more settlers were killed, but always outside the stockade.

And R.G. Hughlilly stepped up with his new elixir. He cited the work of fellow scientists stating that the bearfalo’s aggression might result from human pheromones. It was a ridiculous theory and the colony laughed him to scorn. But Hughlilly was relentless. He started his advertising and wrote his jingle. He even moved his factory outside the stockade to show that Safety Blue really did work. And ever so slowly he won the people over. Convinced, they started buying Safety Blue daily and telling their children stories of the once terrible bearfalo.

That is how it used to be. Dad told me those stories too when I was very young. But no one cares anymore. My little sisters have never heard about the aggressive bearfalo other than what is alluded to by the jingle.

Hughlilly was lucky and knew how to play off of a coincidence. He, or more correctly his son since R.G. passed away several years ago, is by far the richest person in the colony.

And so it was that I decided to stop drinking Safety Blue. Through this paper I hoped to reveal the corrupt power that R.G. Hughlilly has wielded over our naive colony.

One week has passed. At first nothing happened. My parents caught on after two days and told me I was foolishly endangering the entire family. We had a fight. Dad kicked me out. I’ve been living with my Fiancée since. She was worried but supportive. She is sleeping in a different room, as is proper, though with the door locked just in case. Just in case what? In case they come? It made me chuckle. I hoped she wouldn’t keep it up for long.

It was the third day when the first incident occurred. I say incident, but it was really nothing. That darn song has just made us all paranoid.

I was walking home from the school along the Easthill trail as a herd of bearfalo sauntered across. I walked around the herd, showing them the due respect they deserve. They are very large and impressive. While observing the herd I bumped into one of the stragglers. I gasped and stepped back. The bearfalo continued several steps as if it didn’t notice, then stood up and watched me as I walked away. It dropped back down and followed me for almost a minute. At one point it was right next to me and sniffed my hand. I patted its side. It then rejoined the herd.
I smiled and tried to imagine the beast as aggressive.

--p3--

The second incident happened the next day. I was out running with my fiancée on the other side of the colony. A large herd was grazing on the side of the hill above us. My fiancée touched my elbow and I stopped running. Above us the herd was silent. None were grazing now. They just watched us. My fiancée’s look reminded me that it was not us, it was me. She shuddered and ran back to the colony without waiting. The bearfalo in the back stood up. The whole herd faced me and seemed to be waiting for something. Their large eyes bored into my soul. None of them blinked. I tell you it was eerie, but I was thickheaded. I ruled it off as coincidence.

The following day I got unlucky. At lunch I was on my way to school. A group of elementary students was walking the same direction, out to their building. There was a very small heard just off the trail grazing. One of the kids threw a girl’s computer at the herd. It hit the side of a bearfalo and fell to the ground. The darn animal didn’t even look up. Being closest, I walked over to pick it up for the girl. The bearfalo turned and looked at me, its eyes wide and black. I picked up the little computer just as one of the males pushed past the grazing females and stood erect ten feet from me. It was massive. The thing let out growl that set my knees shaking. When I didn’t move, it immediately bellowed in a manner I interpreted as hostile, its mouth opened wide. I never knew they could open their mouths that wide. I never knew they had several large, sharp teeth amongst their molars either.

Needless to say the kids burst out crying and the teachers started singing that cursed jingle to calm them.

Yesterday I grew paranoid. Every time I went out there was bearfalo sitting alone watching me. No matter where I went. Mere coincidence, but it was always there. The previous days accident had done more than enough to make me fear “them” coming for me. I opted not to leave my fiancée’s apartment the rest of the day. Once she got home she yelled at me. I tried to take it stoically but fear I failed. She ended up in tears and locked herself in the other room. I sat awake in her bed most the night stewing angrily on the many coincidences of the week. She woke once and sobbed herself back to sleep. I longed to hold her but knew she wouldn’t let me until I started drinking Safety Blue again.

Then the noises began. They were quiet and indistinct. There was no pattern; they came sporadically once or twice an hour. I didn’t need to go to the window and look down on the street to feed my curiosity. I knew. And I feared that I might not just be paranoid anymore. ‘They’ were sniffing around.
I slept little if at all.

By sunrise I had resolved to leave my fiancée for a bit. Just in case there might actually be any credence to the whole Safety Blue issue, you know. I sprinted through the streets as the sun peaked over the hills. One solitary bearfalo followed me through the colony, far in the distance. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to harm anyone. I needed to be somewhere alone and safe.

That’s what brought me here to the colony detention building, one of the sturdiest buildings on the planet. My employee password and palm print were all I needed to get in. The building is entirely automated. No one is stationed here when there are no prisoners. There haven’t been prisoners for more than a year.

I stopped on the way and bought some Safety Blue. I’ve drunk four now and think I’m going to vomit. It hasn’t done any good. As soon as it was dark they attacked the building. I couldn’t believe what the surveillance cameras showed me. They are strong. Much stronger than any of us thought. And they are smart. Within an hour these grazing animals had broken into the building. They ripped through the security gates. They are coming for me.

--p4--

I’ve locked myself in the last containment cell. The door is solid steel. The power has gone out. I write in darkness. They are against the door. Their howling is terrifying. Their claws, their claws...

They are coming for me. I don’t think there is anything I can now do. If I don’t survive this, whoever finds this letter please give it to my family. Oh my fiancée, please, tell her I’m sorry. I’m oh so very sorry. Why didn’t I listen? Why didn’t I believe? Tell her I love her so much.

And tell my friends, all of them, in fact tell the whole colony: Its true, drink Safety Blue and they won’t come for you!