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catullus-the-author · 4 years

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“At Some Point, Gold is as Good as Mold”

“Wally! What do ya’ see?”

Grimacing against the harsh light of the scouting drones overhead, Wally turned to yell back at his friend. “A cave! But it looks pretty small. Might not be useful.” Wally’s friend, Daniel, jogged up to his side. He squinted down at the hole in the side of the cliff.

“Oh shoot, that rock looks mighty softened from all this water beatin’ up on it. We’ll be able to dig it out bigger,” Daniel exclaimed. “I’ll call the Bulldozers in.” Daniel pressed a series of buttons on the bright blue band wrapped around his wrist. “Should be here in about five minutes.”

“Cool,” Wally replied.

The silent drones overhead began descending, shooting out projectiles that sprayed bright red ‘X’s’ on the cliff face. Wally followed Daniel back to the Operations Mobile Home. (OMH)

“I bet we’ll get at least 300 points for findin’ this. Wouldn’t that be somethin’? I could upgrade to an Air Home with those points,” Daniel sighed. Wally nodded in agreement. “What abouchyou? What are you gonna do with those points?”

Wally thoughtful rubbed his chin. “I might get myself a new Transportation Drone.”

“Ooh, nice thinkin.’ You should get the RX-tevel 104. I hear it’s got a wicked time-jump engine.”

Wally smiled, replying, “I just might.”

Suddenly, there was a rumble underfoot. “Ah, they came early,” Daniel exclaimed gleefully as two hulking, titan-like machines stepped across the treeless land, past the OMH, and straight down by the cliff face. Their monstrous heads stood well over the edge of the cliff. With lit up eyes, the Bulldozers went to work, scraping the cave away bit by bit with massive metal hands.

Daniel whistled with pride. “These two were worth those 175 points, I’ll tell ya’.”

“Absolutely,” Wally agreed, his eyes never straying from the methodical motions of the Bulldozers. What would have taken human hands years to even make a dent in was quickly washed away by the salty water below thanks to the gargantuan machines. The rock scraped off like it was a cake.

“Welp, imma get some shut-eye. They should be done in the mornin’. You comin’?”

Wally nodded, following Daniel into the OMH’s living space.

Sweet, lullaby music filtered through the speakers of Wally’s bedroom as he tucked himself into the warm, fuzzy covers. The grinding of the Bulldozer’s work never reached his ears as he slumbered.

***

It was horrible. The monsters outside pulled away our shelter so quickly, we barely had time to hide. We delved deeper into the cave, my sister and I. The walls vibrated nonstop. We could feel our Mother’s agony in our bones every time more rock was destroyed. My sister shed golden tears, for she felt our Mother’s pain far greater than I did. I, however, heard the howl of my Father’s grief as those Man-made goliaths hurt her. I wanted to destroy them, but that would be fruitless. My fire could not melt the artificial metal the human’s made. Even as I thought this, my Father and Mother begged me to take my sister far away. So, I did.

***

Wally awoke to the enticing smell of bacon, eggs, and waffles. A steaming plate sat on his bedside table. He dove in immediately. At his will, a faucet of sorts emerged from the wall, and gave him a thick syrup to drown his waffles in.

He heard Daniel’s voice through the speakers. “Rise and shine! We gotta cave to explore!”

Finishing up his meal, Wally jogged outside. The Bulldozers had left, but the fruits of their labor were amazing. A great bowl had been carved out of the cave, exposing its innards. Stalactites of all sizes hung from the cave’s ceiling.

“Wow,” Wally breathed with awe. Surprising him, Daniel clapped Wally on the back.

“Wow is right my friend. Now, let’s hop in those suits I was tellin’ ya about.”

Soon enough, Wally and Daniel were at the enlarged mouth of the cave, decked out in the latest adventurer's body suit. The suits tightly gripped soles allowed them to walk over the ever-rocky floor. An enhanced vision gadget on the suit’s visors let them see every edge of the cave in startling clarity. They could count every small bump on a single stalactite, if they wanted to.

“Hey Wally!”

“Gah! I can hear you in the suit just fine if you talk normally,” Wally replied, hoping his ears didn’t begin ringing.

“Sorry, but come over where I am. I think this cave goes a lot deeper.”

Wally joined his friend as he looked down a tunnel-like hole. “It looks like it was purposefully carved out this way,” Wally noted, seeing the ruts where it looked like unnatural cuts in the rock.

“Let’s go down!” Daniel hooted. He promptly began to bound down the tunnel. Wally followed him.

The tunnel went straight down in a smooth decline, yet at some point it began to twist and turn. Seemingly erratically. There were many high ledges, yet Wally and Daniel had no trouble grappling over them to further explore the long, rock-walled tunnel.

“My goodness. This is going on forever,” Daniel noted.

“Yeah, but it has to end sometime. We got all the time in the world to keep going,” Wally replied, excitement growing within him. “I wonder if we’ll find anything,” he asked himself aloud.

***

Our blissful sleep was so quickly halted. Harsh Man-made light filled the haven we had barely had time in. My sister growled with fear and anger, and I joined her. The Men gave their own shouts as they inspected us. One of them looked so incredibly gleeful, however the other seemed to back up, inch by inch. I felt their aura’s. I saw the glow of blood-red cover the gleeful one. The other one began cowering as I stood up to my full height on my hind legs. I gave a ferocious roar. It did not scare them off, but the one backing up seemed to curl in on himself. His light-yellow aura flickered from dim to bright. This one’s spirit was cracking. My eyes blazed a brilliant gold. The golden flames revealed the intangible versions of both men. My sister was screaming behind me, trying to get rid of them. The yellow glowing one’s spiritual heart and mind beckoned me. I dove into this Man, without ever moving my tangible body. Now he really cowered. He surely felt my immense power. I heard my sister yelp with pain. My golden eyes sunk back into my skull. I turned, seeing my sister stumbling to the ground. A terrible prick stabbed at my arm. Drowsiness immediately overtook me. I heard the yellow-man's inner thoughts as slumber forced me to still. I had made a connection.

***

“We are going to be sooooo rich!” Daniel squealed with joy. Wally clutched his head. A terrible headache had come over him when that creature seemed to stare right into his very eyes. He coughed. Icky bile, mingled with some blood, slipped out of his mouth. He heard Daniel’s excited speech through a wall of pain.

“Good thing there was enough stun-numb juice in this suit for both of them. Honestly, I’m surprised it even punctured their skin. Look at how thick these scales look!” Wally saw Daniel making his way over to the colossal beasts. “Hoowee! Come help me get pictures of these beauts to send to the OMH.”

“Sure . . . sure thing,” Wally rasped. “I just . . . need some rest.” Wally groaned as he took a step forward. Daniel turned back to his friend.

“Dude, ya’ okay?”

Wally groaned again as a hammer of fire pressed down on the crown of his head.

“Ya’ need some meds?”

“Ye . . . yes,” Wally stuttered.

Daniel rushed over to Wally’s side. “Hol’ on now. I gotcha,” he said as he helped prop Wally down. A small vial of clear liquid slid out of a compartment on Daniel’s suit sleeve. He twisted the cap off it and raised Wally’s head up. Soon, Wally felt the sweet sensation of the painkiller rush down his throat.

Wally’s head felt slightly less burdened.

“Okay, ya’ just rest now til’ you feel better.” Daniel gently placed Wally’s head back down on the ground. “I’ll deal with these big lizards myself, dontcha worry.”

Wally mumbled a feeble thank you as he watched his friend jog back to the great winged reptilian like creatures. Wally had seen a few pictures from the Old-Time depicting creatures like this. He forgot what they were called. All he knew was that he was very afraid of them. Any natural predators, or even remotely dangerous animals, were in the Earth’s fenced-off wildlife sector. There were big reptiles and amphibians in the sector, of course. Yet never had any animal grown to the magnitude that Wally observed now.

Daniel was now so close to the nearest creature. The smaller one of the two. It had deep, dark, and long scales running over the entirety of its elongated body. There were great bat-like wings that rested just behind its shoulder blades. Its mouth was opened in a frozen snarl, revealing wickedly pointy fangs. It starkly contrasted the much larger one next to it. The other creature had bright orange, red, and yellow scales that hugged its body tighter than its companion’s scales did, however its wings were similarly bat-like.

Even in pain, Wally marveled at the outstanding beauty of these mysterious creatures. Especially their eyes. The eyes of the bright beast were like pools of gold. It occurred to Wally too late that sleeping creatures have their eyes closed.

With a screech that reverberated in his very bones, the large animal reared up. The stun-numb didn’t last long on these gargantuan beasts at all. Daniel stumbled back in surprise. He was practically under the legs of the beast, and the smaller creature was beginning to stir.

“Dan . . . Daniel. Run.” Wally’s words were lost to the roars echoing around the cave. Grimacing, Wally pushed himself up. Daniel was between him and the creatures now. The obsidian-dressed beast was now very much awake. It settled on its haunches, getting ready to pounce on Daniel, no doubt. Fumbling, Wally searched for the stun-numb button on his suit. He poorly steadied his arm in the direction of the creature. His vision blurred. With a jerk of his arm, the stun-numb needle shot out of his arm.

He heard Daniel cry out, and then there was silence. Through tears, Wally saw Daniel lying face down on the ground.

“Oh, shit,” Wally exclaimed. Looking up, Wally saw the two great creatures staring at him. “Hehe,” he mumbled in fear before meeting darkness.

***

I intervened in time. My connection to the yellow-glowing one allowed me to divert his shaking arm in the direction of his companion. Blessedly, he hit his friend with what had frozen my sister and I earlier. Speaking of my sister, she now crept close to the two Men who had so rudely interrupted our slumber. The one who had shot her was face down, while the one I connected to lay face up. “What shall we do with them?” My sister’s tinkling voice asked. "Shall we leave?” I observed the small, pale Men. I thought. I decided. "I would like to take the one that I have claimed. His will was shaken. His spirit . . . uncertain.” Again, I bid my eyes to blaze gold as I looked straight down to the face of the yellow-auraed one. His skin began to glow, and shift. Though it was hard to see under the horrible cage enveloping his body. Nevertheless, this man’s tangibility and intangibility fused with mine. I felt the man’s sleeping conscious as the last of his being became one with mine. "You are treading dangerous waters, brother,” my sister warned. "I am fully aware of what I will do. Please do not worry sister. I have curiosities of my own.” With a new mind imbued into my own, I diverted my attention to the red-auraed one. "He can be left here. We can build a deep well. Mother can keep him quiet.” My sister grunted in agreement. With that, we began to carve out the soft Earth that our Mother detached from herself. This man would not make another sound.

***

Wally felt as if he were floating. In a pool of warm water. It’s as if he were in his mother’s womb again, and he loved the feeling. He had an incredible urge to suck his thumb, just as he did when he was a child. Yet as he soon found out, Wally appeared to not have a thumb. Or a hand. Or anything. However, his vision was covered in a milky white sheen. Despite Wally’s predicament, he felt contentment.

Soon, he felt his nonexistent body shudder. A great voice had spoken.

“Hello, man. There is no need to be frightened.”

Wally, surprisingly, was not afraid. He felt as if nothing could touch him, wherever he was. He was confused though.

“You are not dreaming,” the voice told him. "Dreams are a slice of reality, but consciousness is ever clearer.”

Wally became as startled as he could as the voice appeared to read his mind.

“I have questions, and I would be ever so delighted if you answered them. Do not worry about your lack of tongue, for now we are one.”

This just furthered Wally’s confusion, but the booming voice asked away. Sometimes the voice was satisfied, other times, it seemed to huff with impatience. To be perfectly honest, Wally didn’t completely understand all the questions that were asked, and later, he would not even remember those questions.

There was a point amidst these questions where Wally felt the need to sleep. He never fell asleep. Not while the voice’s Earth-shaking timbre enveloped him.

“Thank you, man,” it said. “I will release you without harm for your cooperation.”

A sudden whoosh of air swirled in the womb-like room-of-sorts. Wally’s milky-white vision washed itself away, and suddenly he felt the painful nick of cold air against his skin. The hard bite of sharp rocks met his back.

His back!

Wally scrambled up. He had his body back. He could feel the physical world again.

And the physical world did not feel pleasant. Not after being wherever he had been. He soon came to the realization that he was naked as the day he was born, despite the darkness around him. He shivered. There didn’t seem to be any light source nearby.

Quite irrationally, Wally began to walk in a random direction.

“Ugh,” he huffed out when he seemed to hit a wall of rock. His hands searched the wall, and he gave a yelp when it began to move. Blindly, he scrambled backwards. A guttural growl came out of the rock wall. A much louder growl-yip sounded nearby. Suddenly, Wally’s surroundings were ablaze.

His eyes adjusted to the new light, and when he looked up, he couldn’t find the air to scream.

Shimmering like mirages, two dragons . . . the dragons! Wally and Daniel had found dragons! It all came back to Wally in a snap of a moment. They were in a cave . . . but not anymore as Wally observed. They were in a forest now. Wally looked around, expecting to find Daniel nearby. He did not find Daniel. Only the two great beasts and himself were visible.

Wary, Wally stared at the dragons in fear. The brightly scaled one was resting its head on its massive front-clawed hands, while the smaller one had its head straight up as it rested on its belly.

They were both watching him.

“Go, man.” Wally jumped. “You will speak nothing of this. Our souls are intertwined. Your words should be like sweet honey, not sour vinegar.”

“What the hell,” Wally breathed to himself. Despite his roil of fear and confusion battling inside his stomach, Wally walked away. He never realized how, but somehow, he made it back to the OMH.

Its exterior was lit up in a soft blue light that extended deep into the sparsely populated forest. Feeling his chest cave in with some relief, he rushed into the OMH, relishing the soft carpet of its entrance floor. Immediately, he jumped into the cleaning-pool and soon dressed himself after his skin glared pink from the hot water.

Squeaky clean, Wally practically fell into his bedroom. The silk-soft fabric hugged his exhausted form. He didn’t recall when he fell asleep.

***

I sensed the tangible body of the man walk farther and farther away, until he stopped. He was not far at all. Despite Man’s growing dependability on their man-made machines, they seemed to have a knack for returning to their homes quite easily. They also have a knack for destroying homes as well. My sister slept uneasily beside me, and I joined her as our Mother sang us a lullaby that predated our time.

***

An aroma of French toast, sausage, and fruit permeated Wally’s nose the minute he woke up. The OMH hummed with its inner machines working to begin the day. The breakfast was gone before Wally could really taste the food, yet it silenced his impatient stomach. Yawning, Wally shuffled out to the living room. Tossing himself onto a sofa, the news of the day clicked on. Wally didn’t really watch it. The white noise it made helped Wally distract himself. Though that distraction didn’t last for long.

Wally shivered and shook non-stop. Recalling the events of yesterday. Dragons were real, and one had spoken to him. It seemed humanity’s efforts to close off all organisms into the wildlife sector had failed.

The wildlife sector!

Rushing over to a massive computer monitor, Wally hastily logged in and began to compose an email to the overseer of the wildlife sector. These dragons needed to be contained. He was halfway through the first sentence when his hands locked up. Then his fingers seemed to fuse together as if there were glue on them.

He felt the eerie sensation that he was being watched.

His eyes itched.

Backing away, rasping with fear, his fingers began to separate. Soon, he could move his hands again. He most certainly didn’t forget what that dragon had told him, he just didn’t want it to be real.

However, as he realized that he would never be able to communicate his findings at all, there was a kernel of relief mixed in with his disappointment.

The dragons would most likely make him one of the wealthiest humans on the planet, but to what end? He already had what he needed and wanted with his current home. It was Daniel who sought to enrich himself.

Daniel! Where was Daniel?

“Daniel?” Wally called out. “Are you here?”

No one answered.

He had not seen Daniel since they were both in the cave.

Growing in worry, Wally typed in Daniel’s bracelet ID code into the computer. Daniel’s location popped up, and so did his vitals.

Crying out with worry, Wally found a spare cave-diving suit, one much like the ones he and Daniel had used earlier, and he set out towards the cave that now had a gaping maw.

The rocky obstacles did not stop Wally from finding Daniel. Deep into the cave they had found the dragons in, Wally thought he found Daniel. His location was blinking right over his as he stood in the cave.

“Daniel!” He screamed. Only his echoes replied to him.

Suddenly, smacking his head, Wally connected his suit’s microphone to Daniel’s suit speakers. Miraculously since they still worked.

“Daniel?” He whispered now. “Can you hear me?”

Silence.

“Daniel, I see your location, but I don’t know where you are,” he explained. “I know you’re super malnourished, but please, say anything."

Silence again.

Feeling overwhelmed, Wally stumbled to the ground. Soft sand moved under his legs. There wasn’t sand in this cave before, was there?

Looking helplessly at his friends gradually lowering vitals, Wally began to dig into the sand. His suit recognized his intentions and extended a large shovel-like appendage from the suits back. It helped Wally dig, and dig, and dig. Until his arms felt like lead, and he felt the cool, rounded edge of Daniel’s suit helmet.

“Oh god!” He cried. Daniel weakly sat up, promptly falling over onto Wally. He looked so incredibly tired.

What happened next was a haze, but Wally distinctly remembers carrying Daniel over his own shoulder out of the cave and back to the OMH.

The OMH’s mechanical medical aid worked to heal Daniel and get him fed. Wally sat next to him while it worked. Daniel was asleep for the entire operation.

Yet when it was finished, Daniel groggily opened his eyes, looked at Wally, and smiled. His mouth moved to say something, but to both their surprise, no sound came out.

#fiction #shortstories #creative

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