bent towards her direction with its gaping mouth. Instinctively, she leapt back just in time
before getting caught. Dr Snow was aghast of the existence of such a creature, yet she was also
awestruck of its majesty.
The creature wriggled out of the hole and stayed still, as if it was inspecting her. Snow
reckoned it was as long as half a swimming pool. It was a worm. However, this worm was
unlike any other worm. Its tapered body consists of toughened reddish segments, resembling an
elongated armor-plated tank. Not knowing why, she moved toward the still creature. Nearing the
worm, it pounced forward, but it did so with a sense of struggle. As she continued to cautiously
walking towards the worm, it started twisting and turning. Though she was not an entomologist,
Dr Snow had enough experience with worms to know that it was twisting in agony. The turning
and twisting continued until their violent conclusion. All movement just suddenly stopped, the
worm was finally still. Dr Snow moved cautiously until she was almost face to face with the
worm.
The worm was dead.
Somehow, she knew that the pool of polluted liquid waste, a concoction of poisonous
chemicals and metals, was the cause of the worm’s demise.
Though deeply shaken by her encounter with a worm-like monstrosity, she couldn’t stop
herself from being mournful of the death of the worm. She got back to her car hoping to find a
town; to find help and tell of her horrifying ordeal. After a few hours, she found a town and went
straight to the authorities but her encounter fell on deaf ears. That night, she couldn’t sleep for
still being troubled and saddened. Feeling helpless, she decided to complete her report, not about
new mineral sites to exploit, but on how humans should change for the better. She wrote:
Today’s humans have proved themselves to be nature’s most dangerous animals. Wherever
we go, we pave a path of destruction. Wherever we stay, we drive all else out. We are masters of
destroying our one and only home along with everything and everyone in it. However, although we
have the power to destroy and bring misery, we also have the power to change and bring good. We
only have to choose. Either we choose to be right, or to be wrong. It is our choice.
