…it’s tinier than ever
The Doclopedia #3,016
366 Days, 366 Paragraphs: #255
Chapter Twenty Nine: Strange Events
After many hours of vibrating, all of the crystal relics on earth stopped. They had communicated everything that needed communicating and now it was time for one last thing before they began waiting for Collection.
There was a moment of silence, then every one of them started vibrating at the exact same frequency, sending a portion of their power to the relic that was next to a beaver pond. That relic glowed with the incoming power and then started storing it away. Once it had all of the power it could hold, the relic used the small amount that was left to send out a message that only two carbon based lifeforms would receive. Then it went dormant and all was peaceful in the woods once again.
Shortly after sunrise Penna and her best friend, Juni Vantelder, went to Helma’s room to get her ready for burial. Penna thought that they would dress her grandmother in her favorite blue dress and put a rose in her hair. That was how Penna remembered her from her childhood, on those rare days when she would pass through Town.
When they opened the door, both women screamed. Helma’s body was gone! Her clothing was still there, in the exact position that they had been when she was wearing them, but they were empty now.
In a daze, Penna looked around room and saw that nothing had been disturbed. The room looked exactly as it had last night when she closed and locked the door. No, wait, there was one small difference. The window, which Penna had carefully shut and locked, was open about two inches.
She was still staring at it when her husband rushed into the room and took her in his arms.
Many miles from Blue Tree, three riders set out from a small wooded area. From behind a bush on a nearby hill, a large dog watched them
as they rode. Her coat was reddish blond, her eyes were green and if anyone had been close enough to see it, those eyes shone with intelligence.
After a few minutes, she started trotting down the hill towards their trail. When she got to it, she began following them.
In the Great Plains, Gertie the zeppelin was grounded in the best place possible to avoid being seen: directly under the Oklatex section of the Mother Road. Only somebody on foot would have been able to see them and during the spring migration, nobody in their right minds would be doing out on the plains on foot.
Technically, Gertie was not actually on the ground. The top of the zeppelin was resting on the concave underside of the Road, which meant that the catwalk Lahn and Seyan were going to sleep upon was a good ten feet off the ground. That would be more than enough to keep them out of the reach of lions, wolves and other predators that followed the great mega-herd of bison and other herbivores.
They laid out their bedrolls on the thick layer of grass that they had gathered up just after sunrise. Both of them were bone tired, but not so tired that they didn’t make love. After that, however, they fell into deep sleep.
Seyan awoke sometime after noon, still very sleepy, but disturbed by something. When she looked around, she saw what had bothered her. A large hawk, the biggest she had ever seen, was perched on the railing at the end of the catwalk, not a yard from where her feet were. She didn’t recognize the species, but it was a beautiful bird with red and gold feathers and large golden eyes. It was so big, she imagined that at a distance it would look like an eagle.
As it set there, it stared straight at Seyan, then looked at the snoring Lahn for a moment before turning back to Seyan and winking at her. Not a blink, but a definite one eyed wink.
Seyan stared at the bird as it ruffled it’s feathers, then tucked it’s head beneath a wing and went to sleep. After a minute, she convinced herself that it had just been a simple one eyed blink, not an intentional wink. She was still thinking that as she lay back down and fell asleep.
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