Startled, the stegosaurus looked up from his meal, examining a smoking hulk screeching across the sky. It made a howl louder and more mournful than any pterosaur he'd heard. His eyes drowsily traced the object's trajectory, till it disappeared into the forest's canopy. Moments later a loud clap roared over the valley and the stegosaurus shielded his head against his shoulder. As the thunder echoed away and the normal sounds of the rainforest resumed, the stegosauraus returned to chewing his cud.
***
"Well I'll say, Manslave! You must be more careful with that spear! How many times have I told you to keep it in the bin by the door?!" Shouted the Colonel as he tripped out of the wrinkled form of the AB88.
"Sorry Master, but the poison dries out in a day, I must refresh the speartip always," explained Manslave, swinging from the open bulkhead and dropping silently onto the pads of his bare feet.
"I'm just grateful I wasn't impaled in the crash." said the Colonel lighting his pipe and stretching his back. "This is QUITE the conundrum, now isn't it? Let us hope that we can get the AB88 repaired with local resources, lest we be stuck here for a fortnight before a rescue party arrives."
"Master," said Manslave.
"Yes?" Inquired the Colonel absently, then turned to face him.
"My lands! How dare they!" Shouted the Colonel at a fresh plume of smoke and flame pouring from the opening of the AB88. "The guns! The supplies! The game! How on Earth are we supposed to hunt now?!" The colonel danced around the crash site in disbelief, throwing his pipe and pith helmet to the ground and kicking dirt in every which-way. Exhausted, he smoothed his mustache and said distastefully "And guaranteed to be marooned here for two weeks! How much worse can this get?!"
Manslave answered with a simple gesture to The Colonel's rear. Turning, he felt the cool shadow of a spinosaurus looming over him. During his rant he hadn't felt the sub-sonic booms of the creatures footsteps advancing on them.
"Manslave! Your spear!" cried The Colonel.
"The fire took it, Master," muttered Mansalve, as he prostrated himself before the giant.
"Manslave," deduced the Englishman, "I do believe we're fucked."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Evan, yay for your new blog. :) I really enjoyed this story. It read like an episode of Black Adder for me.
I think your edits helped to clarify it as well. There are a few places where "Manslave" has no hyphen - I think either spelling works, but consistency is best.
I wonder if the AB88 gets its name from anything?
It's the account number for one of the customer's at my work. It just sounded like it would be the name of a piece of equipment or vessel of some sort.
Post a Comment