The Hidden Treasure of Darfor

Restrained by two large, aggressive beings and flanked by two more, Patrick was led through the sandy streets of the settlement. As he was taken, the human attempted to spot any obvious landmarks or junctions and commit them to memory, so that if and when he was free, he would be able to find his way back to the centre of town and then back to the mechanic shop which he assumed was still fixing Saleek’s ship. At least, that was the plan he had formed when he realised that he was being captured again. However, it brought him little comfort as he struggled pointlessly against the two strong, unflinching aliens which currently held him, one on each arm. It didn’t seem very likely that he was going to be able to just wriggle free of their iron grips and make a quick break for it, so for now he played along. Patrick had always considered himself and his species to be reasonably intelligent, strong and fast but after spending a little time away from the outer colonies he had been forced to radically alter this view. Sure, humans were apparently famous throughout this Galactic Network of planets for their intrepid, indomitable spirit, their thirst for knowledge and their desire to better themselves. However, it was rapidly becoming clear to Patrick that humans had a long way to go if they were ever to be considered anything more than a minor curiosity to the majority of aliens who lived in this galaxy. He had spent a little time observing trantiks, semloids, oomlocks and also lyans and Patrick was forced to admit that every single one of those species was either taller, stronger or faster than humans. In some cases, all three. He cursed his naivety and his arrogance for not researching more about other species before he left New Earth to journey into the core systems. For one reason or another, alien biology and cultures were not taught much in the schools in the human outer colonies. Patrick now had an inkling as to why this might be: because humans were no longer alone in the universe, they could no longer pretend that they were the strongest, most intelligent life-form to ever evolve. Therefore, this was the only way to avoid the unpalatable truth that while humans were adaptable and creative they actually had much more to learn from their alien counterparts than they had to teach them.

  The two heavy thugs led Patrick away from the main settlement and into the sandy dunes beyond. After braving wicked winds which whipped up the sand into a frenzy so that it danced and played on the hills and seared the human’s eyes as he watched, Patrick was eventually led into a camp of sorts, built into the side of a very large sand dune. He was half-dragged into a cave, then into one tunnel and through another. After another minute or so, he arrived at his new accommodation, which left rather a lot to be desired. This particular chamber was fairly large, but the smell was almost overwhelming – the putrid odour of decaying flesh and decomposing bodies was nauseating. Patrick gagged and just about managed to stop himself from showing his captors what he had eaten earlier on that day. There were several cages in the roughly circular chamber. The one nearest to the entrance was the largest and there were about six or seven other, smaller cages which were dotted around the rest of the room. The cages were all devoid of life except for one, which had what appeared to be some kind of alien that resembled a hybrid dog/bird creature trapped inside. The trapped alien flapped its stubby wings and made a guttural barking sound as Patrick and the others entered the chamber. Before he could say a word, Patrick was flung with some force into the nearest and largest cage, where he landed in a heap on the floor. By the time he had picked himself up, the thugs that had been escorting him had slammed the cage door shut and locked it.

  ‘Hey, wait a minute. Hey!’ called out Patrick as the aliens began to leave.

  They paid him no attention and quickly left the chamber, leaving Patrick with nothing other than the angry dog/bird creature several cages away from him for company.

  ‘What the hell?’ muttered Patrick under his breath. This was quickly followed by a ‘How do I get myself into these messes?’ as he wandered up to the cage door and tried to open it.

  Unsurprisingly, the door barely budged and the lock seemed pretty robust and secure.

  ‘Damn it!’ the human cursed.

  He was fed up with being treated like a piece of meat that didn’t even warrant any kind of respect at all. He slowly started to pace around his cage, which was around two and a half metres high and about six metres by six metres in area. The floor was just hard rock that was scratched and slightly uneven. The only decoration in the cage, if one could call it that, was a pile of bones in the corner which had probably belonged to a previous occupant. Patrick briefly inspected the pile before starting to pace once again. He didn’t know what the creature had been, but it had quite a large skull with a few big teeth still present in the mandibles so he didn’t want to get too close to it. After a while, he realised that he was just wasting energy pacing around, so he found the least uncomfortable patch of rocky floor and gingerly sat down on it. Patrick took a deep breath and tried to think of a way out. After about ten minutes of coming up with nothing, emotion got the better of him and he let out a frustrated scream which echoed off the walls of the chamber and did nothing except start the dog/bird creature barking again. His efforts at escaping thwarted, the human put his head in his hands and closed his eyes, feeling very alone and very vulnerable.

  Chapter 24