Grove of the Unborn

John Tyndall serves as the third engineer on the starship Polaris, a routine research vessel ferrying zoologists and biologists to distant worlds. Their latest stop is Arrill, a planet orbiting a dim sun, where a single, self‑sufficient city thrives amid a sprawling jungle. The inhabitants, the Arrillians, are courteous and seemingly eager to share their culture, even teaching the crew English with ease. Beneath the tranquil surface, however, Tyndall senses something unsettling about the massive, sacred “Bugs” that the locals keep in guarded pens.

When the Polaris departs, a sudden malfunction leaves Tyndall alone on the alien world, his ship vanished into the blackness of space. He lies on a cold, unfamiliar floor, the hum of distant engines fading, and is forced to confront the stark reality of isolation. As he grapples with the mysteries of the planet’s ecology and the enigmatic role of the Bugs, the story unfolds as a quiet meditation on loneliness, cultural misunderstanding, and the thin line between curiosity and danger.