The Reserve
The black bulk paced along the familiar path; a path that had been forged through the trees, through repetition and through time by him and his family. With each step he took all his muscles in all his limbs bulged and constricted displaying his immense power. Despite this powerful potential the Gorilla was exhibiting great caution as it patrolled the perimeter. Everything suspicious was inspected keenly. Anything edible was tested, thoroughly. Eventually the animal came upon a clearing with a river passing through. He stopped at the edge of a clearing. This was the area he disliked. It made him paranoid. He hesitated at the edge for a while, hiding in the safety whilst inspecting the surroundings. He saw nothing but the usual greens, browns and blues all swaying in the breeze. He heard only background noise. He could only smell the damp air he was used to. He felt no vibrations which would give away certain movement. Still not entirely satisfied with his check, he repeated it. Look, listen, smell, and feel. All checks passed again and so the fauna left the cover of the flora, still apprehensive and unable to shake that feeling he was being watched.
Ben raised the lens to his eye. As he watched, the primate paced across the empty expanse, oblivious of the man watching him. It may not have minded being observed through a lens from such a passive distance. It may have objected had it known that attached to the lens was a rifle. Ben smirked, exhaled slowly, lined up the creature in the centre of his scope, placed his finger lightly on the trigger, and waited. Just as he felt his body tell him to breathe again, he squeezed. A small projectile launched itself the four-hundred yards between the gun and the beast and embedded itself in its side. The Gorilla roared. The forest came to life. Flyers flew, burrowers burrowed and camouflagers camouflaged. Scared, confused, angry and alone the mammal involuntarily fell unconscious and with a shudder, groan, splash and thump, hit the wet ground along the river bank. Ben placed his rifle down and gave the signal to his companions. If they were to gather up the massive beast before its friends arrived they would have to act fast. Ben’s crew were not amateurs and all went about their individual jobs without words and without fault. Within fifteen minutes they had the body secured in a cage in the back of a jeep. As the four-by-four left the trees and found the dirt road, Ben looked back at unconscious beast. Third one this week, he thought with a smile. The jeep took them back to a large complex surrounded by wired fence and wired barbs. Ben’s part of the work was over and so he got in his own car and headed home.
Five minutes from his house the car began to sputter and grumble.
‘C,mon old girl’, grumbled Ben more to himself than anything. But she continued to protest this exertion and just as they reached Ben’s driveway she gave up altogether and slowed to a dead stop. His driveway was a mile long. Ben slowly lowered his head onto the steering wheel and sighed. He got out the vehicle and opened the bonnet. ‘Hmm, hmm…’ he mumbled as he looked at the engine, although if someone had replaced the engine with a microwave, Ben would hardly have known the difference, and the ‘hmm hmms’ wouldn’t have fooled anyone, had there been anyone listening.
Way, way above the human and its car, hovering just outside the Earth’s atmosphere was a ship, hanging steadily in place. Silent. Everything was silent in space, but had there been the possibility of noise this ship would still have made none. Inside however there was significant life. Beings going about their daily routines; driving, serving food, sleeping. One being in particular was intently observing a floating multi-dimensional object and had been for some time. He had been using it to observe a small portion of land on the planet below, anticipating the return of the primate he had been watching. Apparently it lived here. And right enough it had just returned moments ago in its small ground-ship. At this point the being had made some sort of gesture and the primate’s ship had shut down. As the human left its vehicle the being above focused intently, lined up the human with the centre of his screen and made another gesture.
An incandescent light surrounded the animal. It screamed. And then, its body began to rise. Astonished, it instinctually grabbed onto the vent of its defunct automobile. Its legs continued to rise and quickly it was upside down. If it could have organised its thoughts it would have had many questions. However its brain was having so much trouble with this situation that it was barely managing to order its fingers to keep hold. The brain decided it couldn’t take it anymore and quickly retreated back into itself, finding recluse deep in its own unconscious. This, of course, meant that the mammal’s body was now running the show, and as good a follower as it was, it was useless in charge. It released the vent. The man ascended. Scared, confused, angry and alone the mammal involuntarily fell unconscious.
Ben sat upright. Sweat was dripping from everywhere. He looked around to discover he was in bed and his wife was lying next to him. He had the vague recollection of some kind of nightmare but within seconds his panic had faded. He went back to sleep. He woke up the next morning, kissed his wife on the forehead and went about his morning routine. Later on that day he was to be found in the same clearing as the previous evening. He was sitting on an outcrop some hundred yards away with his rifle and a laptop. As he watched the clearing through his scope he saw his colleagues gathered around a large crate. All but one of them retreated back into the foliage towards Ben. The last one pulled a bit of rope as he followed the others. As he pulled it a wave of tension passed along the rope. The wave moved down from his hand, into the dirt, along the dirt and through the grass. At the other end it travelled vertically and up to a corner of the crate, one side of which fell open.
The gorilla slowly regained consciousness. He had no recollection of his previous distress. Although for some reason he found himself in a crate that reeked of other. Suddenly the front of his small cell opened. The gorilla peeked his head out to find himself in the familiar clearing on the boundary of his territory. Look, listen, sniff and feel. Apart from the unusual smell, the area seemed safe. The primate slowly ventured out of the box before making a dash for the trees. He was greeted by the familiar path and followed it deeper into the forest.
Ben looked at the interface in front of him. It showed a blinking green dot moving away from his location. He smiled.
The being above looked at the interface in front of him. It showed a blinking green dot close to his location. He smiled.
STEVEN TAIT 