* * * * *
The crew walked hesitantly down the ramp with the hairy one in tow clinging to Rodeena's tail. In front of them stood three much larger, taller and thicker set hairy beings, with fists clenched in a bending forward stance. Even though they were slightly stooped, Elwood realised they were already insurmountably bigger and vastly more threatening. He wondered about the scale of the jeopardy facing them.
Wingclipper arched his neck and saluted, then took a pace back. There was no sign of movement, emotion or any attempt at communication in response, but when the giants saw the little hairy one show its face from cowering behind Rodeena, clutching her hip and poking its eyes out for a quick glance, their inactivity ceased. There was a series of excitable and suspicious grunts from the adults, then the child unleashed itself at an alarming speed away from the crew and into the arms of the tallest one. It babbled with bliss at the reunion.
"Well, that's settled," said Wingclipper. "They have what they want, and now we can check the ship and head off."
Unexpectedly, one of the larger creatures sprang towards Rodeena, and before she could launch a tail attack or activate her crystal and focus a beam, she found herself scooped and snatched, held tightly encased between the bicep and armpit of a brute, then carried away. It ran off accompanied by the others.
"Ro!" shouted Elwood, but it was too late. The hairy ones stomped through the long grass and vanished inside a set of extremely tall trees.
"Arm yourselves," said Wingclipper.
234 activated a switch from the cockpit and a hatch opened on the ship's underside. A small cargo hold descended and the door dropped as the hold plummeted to the ground, revealing two hovering open range bikes. Wingclipper and 234 mounted one, then Elwood positioned himself on sister bike as Bink attached itself between his handlebars.
"It's like a motorcycle without wheels," said Elwood.
"It used to be a motorcycle until the wheels fell off," said Wingclipper. "Special modifications include high speed, fast acceleration, magnets for levitation and a customised turbo. The feeling you get is exhilarating. A true member of the five minute club."
"The five minute club?"
"The average time you last before crashing."
Wingclipper kicked the engine into ignition and a massive deep bass buzz shook the ground.
"Kick the side pedal and twist the right handlebar at the same time!" he shouted over the sheer noise of the turbo to Elwood, who copied his instructions and waited for a response. He sat, leaning forward, turning his head slowly to a puzzled looking Wingclipper. He repeated the action to no avail.
"I don't understand," yelled Wingclipper. "When I stole it, it was working just f -"
Suddenly, the ground shaking output doubled and the volume amplified as Elwood's bike blurted and burst into life. He was catapulted out of the container and skimmed into the long grass, causing Bink to bleep with disorientation. Wingclipper twisted his throttle and turbo-boosted after his crew mate. He caught up and rode parallel, leaned over his shoulder to make a gesture to the woods, then took the lead. They travelled in tandem, and as their bikes entered the woods, the concentrated bike lighting flicked on and Bink's own inner light grew brighter. Further ahead, as they weaved around trees and went up and over bushes, Wingclipper slowed and Elwood eased off the throttle. They came to a standstill.
"Wait. Turn off your engine!" shouted Wingclipper, and both bikes were silenced. A few birds crowed and flew between branches, some leaves swayed, fell and settled, and close to Elwood there was a rustling in the bushes. Elwood turned his head very slowly and gulped hard, looked over his shoulder and saw a hairy matted face glaring straight at him. It growled and they simultaneously drew and fired their pistols. The creature retreated into the endless greenery and something long and colossally heavy tumbled and smashed against the ground right in front of Wingclipper's bike. They peered upwards and saw the other two giants snapping off branches and throwing them down, and then they caught glimpse of a familiar bluish green scaly tail snapping to and fro. Bink saw it and bleeped.
"There she is!" cried Elwood. The bikes powered on once more and they set off in the same direction as the travelling and leaping giants. Branches fell in their numbers and the bikes swerved to avoid them, and Wingclipper drew his pistol, firing into the trees rapidly as they gathered speed. Elwood protested about the dangers of hitting Rodeena, but against the inestimable noise of the bikes, his objections were drowned out.
"If you don't slow down I am going to throw up my motherboard," said 234.
When Wingclipper stopped shooting, they came to a brief pathway that opened into a space in the trees, and looking up and seeing no sign of the giants, Wingclipper and Elwood stopped the bikes in the gap. The three dismounted and focused on the tree line, walking in circles and listening out for abnormalities. Three monumental growls rang out and they withdrew from the direction of noise intuitively, footstep by footstep, until their backs touched, and they span around and aimed their pistols at each other, muttering the same expletive at the same time. And then, from above, three sets of gargantuan hairy arms shovelled and elevated them into the trees. Elwood almost vomited at the sudden rate of climb as they were swept upwards and held close to a thunderous oversized torso each. The giants leapt from branch to vine, landed on the sides of trunks and descended to an opening, dumping the crew members on the leaf littered ground back to back.
Female screaming was heard close to their position. Elwood saw Rodeena, hands clasped and bound, strapped upright against a tree trunk with several windings of branch.
"Ro!"
"On second thought, we should have chosen a different location to hunt for coins," said Wingclipper.
"We? This was your idea! You got us into this mess."
"Captain, you appear to be taking more disastrous risks that do not pay off. May I suggest a period of counselling with the nearest psychotherapist?"
"I don't have a mental imbalance, 234. I have a financial imbalance."
"My hard-drive has picked up on some information, specifically a quote. It reads the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
"That's why a sensible man drinks. Elwood, what are our options?"
"We only have one. We wait."
"And then?"
"We die."
The three giants approached Rodeena as she breathed laboriously. Their fangs showed and drool dripped from their open stinking hive mouths. Their claws lengthened and their eyes narrowed at the sight of the luscious, rare delight of a meal. They encircled Rodeena, blocking out her sight of the crew and the woods, and as they closed in, inching towards their delicate dinner, a flash of fur skimmed the tree line and momentarily distracted them. As they were about to pounce, a golden light illuminated an area around their soles and the baby hairy creature plummeted to the ground and came between them and their hunted reptilian prize. The baby placed a palm on each temple, closed its eyes and concentrated with a bowed head. The crew witnessed the inexplicable sight as three giants were levitated by the mind power of the baby of the litter. They gained altitude and were suspended in mid air by a tiny star emanating from the child's mind and floating above their position. They lashed out and murmured curses, remaining airborne as the baby gave out a strenuous effort to keep them hanging. At the same time, the child focused on the branches wrapping Rodeena to the tree trunk. She felt them go floppy and sag, allowing her to slip and use her tail to cut herself out of the bonding. The baby gestured for her to leave, and she gave it a hug and a kiss.
* * * * *
"A--e--d--b-h--d-f-ff-f-e-d-er-r-r-rr," said Bink as the crew mounted the bikes as fast as they could.
"I agree," said Rodeena. "What a disaster, and we should never come back to this planet. Right, Phoenix? Phoenix!"
"Next time I'll come on my own," said Wingclipper as the bikes started up and they whistled into the foliage.
* * * * *
As the Chromium Bullet ascended the stratosphere and skimmed the thin summer clouds of the flowering summer region of the planet, Wingclipper resigned himself to the command room where he placed the single platinum coin on the table, spun it around and watched it fall as the rotation lost momentum. It rocked from side to side and fell flat. Elwood stood by the light switch reading a manual and adjusting the panel with a screwdriver. Wingclipper reflected the coin against the light and dazzled the back of Elwood's head, repeatedly, shifting the position slightly so that it danced a disco-ball effect on his vertebrae. Elwood felt around his neck with his fingers, sensing sudden heat, and Wingclipper stopped what he was doing and pretended to read.
"You know those bikes?" said Elwood. "How much do they usually go for?"
"More than you, you know," said Wingclipper before mentally cursing at himself for being blunt.
"More than me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"I said that wrong. I meant more than you know. The risk I took to acquire them was a huge gamble, and so if they were to be damaged I would be outraged."
"Right," said Elwood uneasily, returning to fixing the switch.
Wingclipper began to wonder about the true value of human labour. He began to wonder the asking price for a healthy young adult human male, and somewhere inside, Elwood sensed an unusual feeling of dread. He stopped working temporarily to consider his thoughts, looking at Wingclipper who seemed uninterested and absorbed in a book. He assumed the dread was just a feeling that would pass.
* * * * *
Written by Richard C. Parr
* * * * *
About the Author
Richard C. Parr was born in 1986 in England and lives in Nottingham. He has travelled to 20 countries and runs a blog at HumanEmbodiment.com.
Contact Me
Email:
[email protected] Twitter: @HumanEmbodiment
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