The Meadow

The dewdrops seemed to be singing. The morning was bright and warm and the sun sparkled through the moist grass creating a cacophony of prismatic light. She stood there, her toes in the damp earth, her eyes closed and hands to her sides, palms forward feeling the tendrils of sunlight caress her skin. She lifted her chin and smelled the rich air, earthy and tinted with scents of lavender and fresh rain. A breeze puffed her hair back as she opened her eyes to look out on the meadow, smiling at its simple beauty.

She took a slow step forward, then another, and then continued to climb the small hill to its crest where she could look out upon the wide green expanse hugged tightly by golden aspen trees on all sides. At the edge of a clearing there was a commotion, then a large beautiful bird lifted itself neatly into the air and proceeded to flap its way into the horizon. This was bliss, pure, natural bliss and she tried to soak it into her skin as a sponge drinks in moisture.

She closed her eyes and sighed, smiling softly and humming a bit to herself, completely content with the world.

When she opened her eyes, a large digital red word hung maybe fifteen feet from the ground directly in front of her. "MALFUNCTION." It flashed on and off, and a light buzz hummed with it. A hiss of pressure escaping sounded above her, and the tech lifted the hatch and shoved his head through the ceiling.

"Cap'n, the sim is having trouble with 'puppy,' the programming doesn't know what that is. Hell, I don't even know what that is."

She sighed again, this time in resignation. This was going to be a hell of a long flight.