Have you slept with a zwitter lately?

I had come so far that I couldn’t help but laugh at my new predicament. I stared down at the river below, wondering how I could ever maneuver my way across safely. I lack any significant skills in boating, nor were there any materials handy with which I could fashion a flotation device to get myself across. It also appeared impossible to scale the steep cliff to get to the bottom of the gorge, and the speed of the current was impossible to gauge.

So what was there left for me to do? My faith in my mission had just been restored. There could be no turning back. Even had I wanted to, it was unlikely that I would have been able to make my way back across the desert without dying.

Inside, I knew what had to be done. There comes a point in every man’s life when we must make a leap of faith. This was my time. If I was truly destined to go on this mission, to discover the nature of the universe I had found myself in, then the powers that be would make it possible. I had to have faith in myself. I had to trust that there was something more at work than just my curiosity. There was only one way forward. If there was to be a tomorrow, it was across the river.

Steeling all the courage I could find within me, I jumped.

I was dead. As soon as I made the leap, I knew it was over for me. It was an impossible distance, an impossible goal. Strangely, as I fell further, I began to hear music. It grew louder and louder. Was this heaven? Was I hearing the first, faint strains of angelic harmony from beyond? Was it time?

Closing my eyes, I let myself slip away into the music. I have no idea how long I fell, but it seemed like I was listening to those sweet harmonies for hours before I felt a sudden, mind-bendingly painful tug on my skull. I opened my eyes and found myself swinging back and forth. The appendage evolved by my people to aid in our arboreal existence had saved my life by catching onto a small channel in the edge of the opposite cliff. I was alive, and strangest of all, the music continued to play.

But now I was in an even pricklier situation, and the ground I was attached to was starting to rumble…