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You are viewing Haiku of the day: Dinosaur rampage |
THE AUTHORITY WINS! We traveled over a vast expanse of water before we came upon another spot of land. All during that time Toru, the kid, and I couldn’t keep our eyes off the scenery. For each of us, water had always been in short supply, so to see it like this was a little exciting and a little scary. There was a time when the ocean stretched on to all corners of the horizon. We thought that, perhaps, we’d never find our way back to dry land, but then we came upon the jungle. Toru went to pull on the chain but I stopped him. “We need to stock up on food,” I told him, and he nodded. We set down close on the beach at the jungles edge. We were enclosed by rocks, and the surf crashing in on the shore was fierce, but it was relaxing enough. After being cramped in a small basket with two other guys, even the strangest setting can be somewhat comforting. I pulled out the gun we had taken from the PNx3 and started walking toward the jungle. Toru and the kid glanced at each other as I passed them, then started following me. I gave orders that the kid was to gather up firewood. Toru was in charge of collecting fruits and veggies. I was after any wild game. “We’ll camp here for the night,” I said. “Tomorrow,” I began, but I couldn’t think of anything to say afterward, so I just left it. Neither of them seemed to mind. We hunted around in the jungle for hours. Each of us found what we were looking for, and by the end of the night, we had a fire blazing on the beach and fresh food to cook on it. “What are you doing now?” Toru asked me at some point while we cooked our food in silence. I didn’t answer him, didn’t even give him a signifying look. I kept at that silence until we turned in for the night. In my dreams I found myself on a subway car talking to a man in black. His eyes, his skin, his teeth, all black. He told me he had control of the subway train, that he could control it with a tiny remote. I asked him where he was going to take it, and he said that he planned to keep it on course. I asked him what the point of all of this was if he was just going to keep going the way it was going before he took control. He said the destination wasn’t important, that it only mattered where you were seated for the ride. That was when the train was derailed and I found myself staring out the windows at the buildings coming right at me. I turned back to the man in black, who was now smiling at me. Apparently he was still enjoying his ride. The other passengers didn’t feel the same. Their screams turned into a loud screeching, a sound that forced me out of my sleep. THE AUTHORITY DECLARES MAY 9TH FREE AIR DAY! I scanned our campsite. There was nothing but darkness. The fire had long since burned out, and for a while it seemed that the sound that had roused me from my dream was made by my own mind. A rustling noise sounded from the trees that lined the sand, then a shadow leapt from one and landed on the balloon. First, a screeching of metal filled the air; the balloon's armor was being breached. I grabbed my rifle and kicked Toru awake. I couldn’t know for sure whether or not he was following me, but the sound coming from the other side of the balloon was hinting that time wasn’t a luxury in this case, so I kept moving. More screeches and the balloon started to tip. It was losing composure, it was losing air, and as it came down, I saw animals clinging to the back of it, still tearing at the surface. I shot one and at least seven others dispersed back into the cover of jungle. The kid came up behind me in tow with Toru. He was checking out the gondola of the balloon, and he discovered that whatever they were, they had taken the blower that filled the balloon with hot air. “Even if we fixed the damage, we still wouldn’t be going anywhere,” he explained. “What were they?” Toru asked. He was half out of breath. “I’m not sure,” I said. “They were fast,” Toru suggested. “I didn’t get a good look at them. You?” I shook my head. Whatever they were, I decided that we would keep watch and try to track them down in the morning. I went through my time on lookout, then Toru took over the sentry position from there. The kid was last to pitch in, and though he said he was fine to do it, when Toru and I woke up the next morning, he was on his side in the sand, snoring away. “You’re supposed to be a machine,” Toru said, lifting the kid to his feet. “I look just like you,” the kid said. “What makes you think I’m some kind of alarm clock that can just stay vigil after all the crap we’ve been through. I’m not trained for this kind of stuff.” THE AUTHORITY PRAYS FOR CYRUS'S SALVATION “Yeah,” Toru said with a shrug. “I suppose you’re right, except we look nothing alike. I’m far more handsome.” The things that attacked us didn’t do a very good job at hiding their trail. Tracking them was as easy as walking from one bent tree to one cleared field of growth. We made it pretty far into the jungle before the trail led us to a cave. “I’m not going in there,” the kid said. Toru and I sighed. We inched up to the cave, guns drawn and aimed. As we came to the lip, we felt a cool draft blowing at us. Honestly, it felt good. I paused to feel the cold air on my skin. I could barely get out a breath before we were attacked by something that jumped out the darkness. I pulled my trigger three times, and the first two hit the beast. The other went ricocheting into the depths of the cave. Lying on the ground, bleeding all over the dirt, was a dinosaur. The claws on its feet were large, but they hardly looked sharp enough to have taken the balloon apart. I sighed. The dinosaur twitched and I shot it again, this time in the head. The sound echoed through the trees. Then the echo grew to a growl. Toru shouted. Shots were fired. More of the big lizards sprung from the cave’s entrance. We tried to keep them off us, but there were too many. They poured out of the cave like water. We were about to turn and run when a number of bright flashes ignited in front of the cave. It drove the creatures back into the cave. I looked up and was blinded by the sun. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I noticed a number of people looking down on us from the top of the hill above the cave. I called them people only in the sense that upon first glance I thought they were human. They weren’t. The first I made out, had the face of an octopus. Of the other two, one took on goat-like characteristics while the other reminded me of a camel. “Are you okay?” a voice shouted down to us. “Yes,” I shouted back. “What were those?” THE AUTHORITY SALVAGES CYRUS “Agrodons,” said the octopus. “They come out at night. We sometimes have trouble with them attacking our outposts.” “Who are you?” The beings jumped down from their positions and strapped the weapons to their backs. They were smiling. “We are Bavnavores,” the camel said. “We help our creator.” “What are you doing out here?” Toru asked. They looked at each other. The octopus answered: “Hunting. And you?” “We just stopped in when our transport was attacked,” I told them. “Now we’re stuck here.” “Stuck?” the goat repeated. “No one is stuck when Bavnav is involved.” “It’s true,” the octopus insisted. “If you need help, he can give it to you.” I glanced at Toru to get his reaction, but of course he wasn’t giving anything away. Perhaps he was still weighing the pros and cons of the situation. I was never plagued by such worries. “Sure,” I said. “Lead the way.” We trekked through the jungle. The multitudes of mosquitoes descended upon us in droves. The only Bavnavore to pay them any attention was the octopus. The others seemed to have immunity to the bugs’ attacks. I wished I knew their secret. Two kilometers later, we entered open land that bordered on a large stream. More of the Bavnavores were tilling land or doing basic landscaping. There was a fishman in the stream that popped up every so often with a net of wildly flapping fish in his hand. We were led to the largest compound in the place. The wooden door opened at our arrival, and we followed the octopus into a lavish room filled with feathers and ferns. In this room sat a man that looked like he had a little bit of cat in him. The octopus man announced us. THE AUTHORITY FINDS SEDITIOUS MATERIALS ON MANY WEBSITES; declares war against so-called "Webels" “Those damn agrodons,” said this new acquaintance. “I’m sorry to hear about your vessel, but don’t worry, my family and I will do everything we can to help.” He held out his hand. “My mane is Bavnav. Welcome to my home.” We shook Bavnav’s hand, and when he came to the kid, Bavnav almost looked smitten. “And what might your name be, son?” “Names are irrelevant,” the kid said. “After my own heart,” Bavnav said and smiled. “You must be hungry. Come let us converse over a meal. Yes?” We all agreed, images of prepared food dancing in our heads. Or at least it was dancing in mine, and I’m pretty sure Toru was feeling the same. The kid was the only X factor. He could have been thinking of steamed bolts and fried latex. Bavnav didn’t disappoint. Though it was strange, the food was amazingly tasty, and by the time we reached the dessert line, all four of us were in high spirits. Bavnav started talking about his creatures, how he squished and sliced his way through specimens until he found the right ones with the right features to withstand his genetic alterations, and then when he saw it was making us lose our appetites, he stopped. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot how bio science talk doesn’t bode well at the dinner table.” “It’s okay, Doc,” the kid said, helping himself to another spoonful of mashed squash. “How long you been out here?” Toru asked. “Long enough,” said Bavnav in turn. “Maybe too long.” His final sentence hovered over us ominously, until I asked: “What do you mean?” “Well,” he began. “I don’t know if it’s for sure, but the way my observations have been going, there might not be enough of me to come back this time. You see, I clone myself, raise myself, teach myself all the things I’m aware of at that time, and then I die and my other self lives on to carry on my work. Only, every time I clone myself, I lose a little more of my human DNA and become just a little more feral. I’m afraid that the next clone won’t have the mental capacity to learn language as I and my predecessors have.” That’s when he looked up at us, revelation blanketing his face. He pointed to Toru and I. “But you two might do well to help me.” THE AUTHORITY TO CHANGE OFFICIAL CURRENCY “How,” Toru said, cautiously. “You could mate for me,” Bavnav said. “I could do that,” the kid said, flashing me a smile. “No,” the doctor told him, “you’re far too young, but these two, it would be perfect!” “It’s not happening, Doc,” I said. “I’ve gone a while without a proper jump, but I have a lot more important things to do than get down and dirty with old Toru here.” I turned to Toru. “No offense.” None was taken. “Like what?” “Topple an evil corporation that’s holding it’s people enslaved by the very air they breath, for instance.” “And you’re going to do that with a single hot air balloon?” My eyes looked away from him. Who the hell was he to question what I had been through to even get to this place. When I came back to him, I stared a hole through his head, just to let him know the answer: he was no one, not any more important than a common vapor beetle. “I could help you,” he said. “Nine months, that’s all I would need to issue you an army of super modified soldiers. You’ve seen how my creations can handle themselves. They follow orders and they are fast.” He leaned in closer, close enough to smell the nasty musk of his breath. “And if given the right guidance, they can be quite brutal.” He stood from his chair and paced as he talked. “You would be treated as a queen as you carried the child, then, when it was all over, you’d hand him to me and go finish off your enemies.” He held out his hand to me. “What do you say?” Before I could answer three of Bavnav’s creations burst through the door. They were carrying someone with them. Someone the kid, Toru and I had seen before. “He shot Pavlov,” one of the creations said. They cleared the table off and tossed the man on top of it. THE AUTHORITY RAIDS OVER 200 HOMES SEARCHING FOR "WEBELS" “Hey, isn’t that…” the kid said, and I shot him a look. He closed his trap and quick. “You know this man?” asked Bavnav. “We’ve met,” I said, leaning over the Cyrus Quality Assurance man. His suit had seen fire, and his face was pretty scratched up. I grabbed his scraped cheeks and turned his head my way, smiling down at him as though I had fought and won for this moment of victory. “What do you have to say for yourself?” He lifted his head closer to me, as though pleading for me to hear him out. Almost involuntarily I leaned in to hear what he had to say. “Didn’t attack them,” he whispered into my hear. I pulled back looking at Bavnav, who was looking at the kid. Once he saw I was noticing him, he said, “Is this one of the men you are trying to eradicate?” I nodded. “I can see why you would want to. Pavlov was one of my best creations.” The Doc shook his head sadly. “You saw how we dispatched him, though. Even brought him in alive for further questioning. It’s hard not to see how much of an advantage we could give you on your quest.” I looked down at the Cyrus goon. “All right,” I said, taking Toru’s arm. “We’ll do it.” I didn’t need to look at Toru’s face to know the kind of look he was giving me at that moment. I could feel his confused stare. “We will?” it was saying to me, but I wouldn’t answer it. I just grabbed his arm tighter as Bavnav expressed his joy and led us to a room where we might be more comfortable. In the room with Toru, I finally hazarded him a glance. “So, you ready to get down?” I asked him. THE MUSHROOM REVOLUTION IS COMING “What are we doing here? Bavnav’s plan makes no sense.” “I know. Something’s going on here, but I can’t get a fix on the angle.” “What do you mean?” “The Cyrus goon. His wounds aren’t recent.” I turned away from Toru. “He’s been here a while, I think.” “And what are we doing here?” I grinned at him. “Nervous?” Again, that wry look from Toru about made me laugh. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll keep 'em in my bra. We need to talk about what the battle plan is going to be.” “You think he means us harm?” “Probably not yet, but that won’t last for long if we don’t start playing ball his way. It’s like he said. His creations can be pretty convincing when told to be so.” “So what do we do?” “Figure out what he wants,” I said. “I think he made it pretty clear what he wants. He wants a child.” “No, that was just a stall. He needed us out the way.” Both our eyes popped open. “The kid.” The door that we kicked down to get out of the room wasn’t very strong, nothing to keep us from leaving, but when we got out we were greeted by two guards. Two very angry guards. Toru knocked them around for a while until they stayed down. And we ran down the hall, listening for the kid’s voice. With only a few turns it came to us: “What? No!” “What do you have to lose?” It was Bavnav talking. “You’ll still exist, you’ll just have different memories, feelings and thoughts.” “And how will I still exist?” said the kid. Toru and I walked into the room. “You won’t,” I said. THE AUTHORITY PUBLICLY EXECUTES 3 CYTIZENS The kid ran to me. “He wants to use me as a clone of his mind, because I have a theoretically unlimited life span.” I went to open the door. “Let’s get out of here.” “I didn’t want to imply that you had much in the way of a choices,” Bavnav interjected. “One call from me, and the place will be swarming with my creations.” I squinted at him. “Then I’ll have to make sure you can’t do that, huh?” I spun around and punched him in the face, laying him out and putting him under. We slunk through the halls, barely missing a group of hybrids along the way. Slowly we tried the doors to find a way out. One of those doors happened to lead us to a holding cell. Inside one of the cells was the Cyrus goon. “Get me outta here,” he said. “I have a plan to get away.” “What is it?” I gripped the bars of his cell. The Cyrus goon shook his head. “Not until that door opens.” He noted my hesitation. “Listen, I remember the way from when they brought me in, and I saw a means of transport while my craft was going down.” “I’m surprised the agrodons didn’t get a hold of you.” “Agrodons?” “Big lizards,” said the kid. “They tore up our balloon.” A strange grin formed on the goon’s mouth. “Is that what they told you?” Again he shook his head. “They beat it out of me. What I had seen, who I was after. When they heard about you,” he pointed to the kid, “well, there was no holding them from making sure that you’d arrive here.” There was some movement from another part of the shack. “That’s them,” the Cyrus goon said. “Now or never.” Toru found a metal rod lying near the back of the room. He wailed on the lock of the cell until it came open, then we picked up the goon and ran where he pointed. They were on our scent now. I could feel them coming from behind us, inching closer, ready to pounce, kill us, and take the kid back to Bavnav. INTERIM-PRESIDENT MADE HEAD OF AUTHORITY “There!” shouted the goon. Ahead of us was a field of huge, pink bulbs. I thought I saw something fly by Toru’s ear, and when I looked back I was almost clipped by a spear flying by my head. The spear went ahead and pierced one of the pink bulbs and when it did, it started a chain reaction. First one of the bulbs lifted up and revealed the tentacles beneath it. The thing kept going until it was floating in the sky like some extreme version of a jellyfish. One after the other, more of the bulb things joined it. “Grab onto the tentacle!” the Cyrus goon shouted and we all did. The bavnavores did the same, but we kicked them off and sent them flying to the ground. It was quiet for a while, until the screaming from below sounded. The bavnavores found themselves surrounded by a pack of agrodons, but before we could see the slaughter, we were moving higher and higher above the jungle. I looked over to the Cyrus goon. “Hey, you have a name?” “Thomas,” he said. “Looks like we’ve got a number of things to talk about,” I told him, but the kid called me over from another tentacle. “Before you two start getting to know each other, you might want to think about how we’re going to deal with that!” He pointed up to the other floating entities. They were being hit by lightening bolts, their bodies lit up with every strike. But before our pink transport got to the height where all the others were being struck, we started descending. “What’s going on?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Thomas said. Toru shrugged. THE MUSHROOM REVOLUTION IS COMING I looked to the kid. “I’m feeling kind of woozy,” the kid told us, and he looked like he was going to be sick. The tentacle he was hanging from was lit up, like it was sucking power from him, which is exactly what it was doing. “No way,” the kid said. “I can’t believe they do that to you guys.” “Who are you talking to?” I asked. “It,” said the kid dreamily. “says that it can’t help but take power from me, that it’s the only way that it can keep everyone alive from the lightning clouds above us, but that if you don’t get me off its surface soon that it will drain all my power, and I won’t be able to turn myself back on.” The kid’s head lolled. “That sucks.” “Said all that to you, eh?” I said, but the kid wasn’t listening and I could see his grip slipping a bit. By this time we were just moving away from the sand of the shoreline. Below us, I could see our torn balloon and the dark spot where our campfire had been. Finally, the kid dropped into the waters of the ocean. Toru was the first to drop away and follow in after him. Thomas the Cyrus goon was next. The drop was long and when he finally reached the water, the splash was nothing but a high tower of water. “Shit,” I said. My grip was losing its strength. Instead of waiting to drop away from lack of muscle, I let go. The water rushed toward me, then before I could take a proper breath, I was under. When I resurfaced, I saw my crew climbing onto the beach. The kid was a little disconnected in his movements, but for the most part he seemed okay. I joined them on the beach, but before I could say a word Toru was looking up and pointing to the sky. I followed the direction of his finger and saw the pink thing coming to our location. “That thing is so cool,” the kid said, still in that half out of it voice. “It said it would help us when I told it our story.” He smiled largely. “That thing’s so cool.” YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. The tentacles of the thing wrapped around the gondola, and before anyone had a chance to second guess anything, I was cutting off the ropes that attached the basket to the ripped cloth and plating of the balloon part of our transport. We had a new balloon now, and though I wasn’t completely sure of its capabilities, it beat out the competition at this point. Everyone crowded into the balloon and we were off in a matter of seconds. When we got to a proper height, I rushed at Thomas, grabbed him by the neck and leaned him off the side of the basket. “Why?” I shouted. “What?” “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t drop you right here?” “Because I just saved us!” “You didn’t save shit, air man,” I told him. “You just had a plan while I was still thinking.” “Listen,” he stammered, his eyes flicking back to the drop behind him. “You have nothing to fear from me.” “Oh, like you weren’t the one sent out to kill me and my friends?” “I was, but that was before.” “Before what?” “Before I knew all this was out here.” He wrapped his hand around my wrist, hoping that it would balance him, or maybe that I wouldn’t drop him if he had a strong grip on me. “I don’t want to go back to Cyrus City after seeing what’s out here. I tried to tell you that the last time we met, but you wouldn’t stop firing on me.” I lifted him up a little. I started looking over at a little bump on his arm. He continued: “That’s why I was there before you guys were. I’d given up on you all, on Cyrus, on everything that wasn’t exploring this new world. Screw Cyrus. This is much more important than following orders.” “What’s that bump on your wrist?” I asked. As best he could, he looked his wrist over. “I think they must have given me a sedative,” he said. “I put up a hell of a fight.” I lifted him into the gondola and pushed him to the floor. “I’ll be watching you,” I told him. “Just because I’m not throwing you over now doesn’t mean I won’t be throwing you over tomorrow.” Thomas nodded at me, and I left him lying there to go look out at the scene that was coming over the horizon. No one bothered me from this. They all went to find a bed in their own isolated spots on the slats that made up the floor of the basket. Before long, it was just me and the pink thing that was still up and about, searching for a new place to set sail. |
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