Thursday, July 21, 2011

the trip

THE TRIP----ONE---They blasted off at NOON, LOCAL TIME. The townspeople gathered out near the clearing they had made, to see SGT FALCONIAN, LOBELIA, and their new friend, QUINCY, off. The rocket ship took TWO DAYS to reach the moon, and they were now orbiting the dusty chalky planet. The rocketship RESEMBLED one of the orbiters THE PLANET EARTH used, early in the 1960s, when they went to the moon. The bee people had explained that THEIR ANCESTORS had blasted off from their own planet, and had made this town their home, after traveling in the rocketship, for several months. The bee people were their descendants.

The interior of the ship was old, and it looked like an OLD EARTH BOILER ROOM. The BOILER ROOM had OFFICE CHAIRS, AND A LARGE COMPUTER CONSOLE, and in the rear it had rungs going up to the HATCH PORTION OF THE SHIP. There were STRANGE SOUNDS in that ship. Loud, chitterings and bangings that seemed to come from the bowels of the ship.

Quincy glanced nervously around him. His minute scales stood out in the strange blue-green lighting of the ship. The lighting cast a strange green tinge to his brown-blond hair. He had explained that most of his ancestors were HUMAN, but there had been a VELOCIRAPTOR ANCESTOR somewhere in his past, as most of his humanoid relatives had small scales on their bodies. "Grandpa used to TALK ABOUT HIM, A LOT!" he told Lobelia. "Grandpa said that our ancestor was a FULL-BLOODED VELOCIRAPTOR and that HE'D SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE UP IN A CAVE in the MOUNTAINS..." The ancestor had beautiful blue-green scales on his graceful form, and that he had resembled an Earth Dragon. Quincy smiled.

Now, ALL THREE of the men were out on the moon. They had to wear PRESSURIZED, OXYGEN-FILLED spacesuits, as the MOON HAD NO ATMOSPHERE, to SPEAK OF, and it was always PITCH-BLACK. Between the three of them, they had managed to get enough Naboobium to feed the BEE PEOPLE for several decades, and now they were getting ready to leave the planet to go back home. After they had gathered all the NABOOBIUM they could find, they had decided to head back to the ship, to go home, or at least, they WOULD HAVE HEADED BACK TO THE SHIP, but SGT FALCONIAN had WANTED TO INVESTIGATE a small cave he'd found, near one of the NABOOBIUM SPRINGS.

He'd gone inside with a flashlight, and LOBELIA AND QUINCY WERE FOLLOWING CLOSE BEHIND. Something felt ODD about this planet, Lobelia didn't know what it was, but HE DIDN'T WANT HIS SMALL COUSIN skulking around in that cave and possibly getting into trouble. So he went inside the cave, and QUINCY FOLLOWED.

The cave was DARK AND SPOOKY. There was a HISSING SOUND, emanating from somewhere inside, and Lobelia thought it might've been gas escaping from a small gas pocket, or perhaps air coming through small openings, somewhere deep inside the cave. It MADE HIM NERVOUS. All three of them moved around the cave, shining their flashlights on the cave walls and on the cave floor.

As they moved around the cave, they noted the huge stalagtites and rocks that drooped downwards from the cave ceiling, carved out by waters, millions of years before. Suddenly Sgt Falconian yelled, "HEY GUYS! TAKE A LOOKAT THIS!"

Lobelia and Quincy were instantly at his side. They saw where the little man's flashlight had splashed light on a huge rock. The rock had strange writings carved into it, and the writings looked like nothing they'd ever seen before. "Definitely MAN-MADE." Quincy muttered, as he ran a hand over the rock. "Usually the miners leave clues where to find solid Naboobium deposits, but THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT..." He studied the rock, intently.

Lobelia ventured, "Maybe some life-forms from a distant planet left this here, as a CALLING CARD of some sort..." He stared at the triangular writings, trying to make sense of it. He reached for his camera and took pictures. After he took the last picture, he smiled. "Maybe we've uncovered the writings of a LOST CIVILIZATION! Who KNOWS...MAYBE WE'LL ALL GO DOWN IN HISTORY!"