02/20/2024 Snippet, THE VISITOR FROM OUTSIDE.

I realized, like an idiot, that I had missed something obvious with the dates. But I can make it work.

After lunch, I went on the second part of my grand loop. The rain was done, and the sun was out; I hoped that would mean prettier countryside, if only because everything would be fresh.

It did not. Mosquitos everywhere. The old kind, too, the ones that aren’t allergic to humans. Either that, or the one that got into my car somehow was suicidal; the damned thing bit me at least a half-dozen times before I could swat it. I almost crashed the car in the process, too. The vehicles inside here have barely enough autopiloting to maintain a constant speed, and you still have to steer.

…Did I really call this place ‘inside?’ Yikes. Anyway, I decided to cut the trip short, before I ended up in a ditch full of demonically croaking frogs. I’m not exaggerating that, by the way. They really do sound the way you’d imagine devils would, if devils sang base. I’ll finish the second-second part tomorrow. I’m not really behind, if it is true that I won’t have to fight the locals to get the survey data I’ll need…