Social Conundrums, Part XXXV

Gershom

The third moon in the Xurus galaxy, I quickly discovered, is a wasteland. Gloomily I watched it's setting sun shed blood-red rays on a hard rocky landscape littered with exceptionally tall jagged prominences. As Hannah and I descended my eyes and ears couldn't detect any other plant or animal life. We were essentially alone in a forbidding vista of stone.

She led me towards one of the outcrops. It's severity increasing as we neared. I couldn't help thinking how easily it would be for a flesh creature to injure itself trying to find a spot on the monolith. It was brimming with hard edges and sharp spikes of rock. Hannah, however, found a relatively smooth piece of it for us to lean up against as we waited.

Jerome and Ezekiel would come later and to a different part of the moon. The four of us deciding to preserve the element of surprise by keeping our partnership a secret from Felix. The less he knew, the better.

Glancing around I attempted to find where the rendezvous would be but to no avail. Clearly this moon was a great place to work in obscurity. "I suspect a beacon of some kind will become visible at the right moment," Hannah said reading my thoughts.

The fading light of the sun gave the smooth circular wood of the garden's weapon a red tinge. Clutching it tightly in my left clawed hand, I held in front of me, the hole in the object's center revealing a particularly treacherous spiky outcrop of the mountain we sheltered underneath. Despite Hannah's faith in the odd object, I couldn't help doubting the effectiveness of this thing. After all I would be the one to wield it.

"Worrying now is foolish," Hannah said from where she sat by the mountain. Her large sleek back nestled by the stone wall as her golden eyes gave me a pointed look.

"What makes you think that is what I am doing?" I turned towards her suddenly annoyed at how easily she kept guessing my thoughts. I didn't like thinking I was so inept at hiding my feelings.

"Because I can hear the wheels grinding in your brain," she said unperturbed. "I find it rather distracting since it is nearly time to meet Felix."

Before I could respond, a beam of light shot up into the air from a large spire of stone on our right, it was much bigger than the one sheltering us. On the bottom of the structure, the wall suddenly swung outward revealing a way to enter it. No one came out of the odd opening and the beacon of light did little to illuminate what lay inside.

Sensing this was Felix's way of drawing us in, a feeling of claustrophobia came over me, and I hissed to Hannah "Well if that isn't a trap, then I don't know what one is."

Hannah didn't argue. Instead, she glanced down at the weapon I held seemingly to reassure herself that we still had it.

"Let's go," she then said her voice grim.

Our current shelter felt safer than the one that beckoned, but I didn't protest beyond giving the mountain one last longing look before we took to the air. The soft sound of wings revealing that others had joined us including Ezekiel and Jerome. Mentally I counted us all and including myself and Hannah we numbered eight.

We landed only a few feet from the ominous door. Peering inside the dark interior told me nothing about what would greet us when we were inside.

Since I was the only one who could in theory defend myself, gripping the weapon tightly, I moved to enter first. Nothing but a large rocky tunnel greeted me inside. The sound of shuffling behind me revealed that the others had found the courage to join me.

For several moments we stood there frozen waiting for something to happen. None of us were too eager to travel further down the tunnel away from the doorway. Then I heard what sounded like rock moving alarmed I turned to see the door beginning to shut.

A few moved towards the opening pressing their weight on the rock door slowing it down but not stopping it. We had to make a decision to flee this place or stand our ground.

I could tell by the alarmed expression on the four little dragons, who were strangers to me, that they were as taken aback by this situation as us.

I felt pity for them. At least we knew this was a trap. "You should go," I said drawing their attention to me. Hannah gave a sharp inhale of breath but didn't counter my words.

One of the little dragons pushing on the door turned his face, so his golden eyes met mine. He was a much younger little dragon, his statue lacking the bulk of an older one. "If you are staying then so am I," he said and then let go. The two others assisting him reluctantly followed and let the door close.

Moments later all eight of us were plunged into darkness. The decision made.

That ends Social Conundrums, Part XXXV. Next month is Social Conundrums, Part XXXVI. Learn more about the Little Dragons by reading the earlier blog post series titled Humanity's Evolution.

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