52stories

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Blue Streak swam under the cover of the large plants, their flat pads bobbing with the water surface. Only the silvery ball pierced the darkness, the larger more powerful orb gone for now. Blue considered pushing through to the air again, but the memory of his prior attempt, made him rethink such an endeavor. The pink things were about, large and clumsy. At this point they were all on shore, sitting around a glowing, changing… thing. It was fire, but Blue did not know such a word. He knew nothing of it, but it intrigued him so much. How did it work? Could he ever know such a glorious site in his world? Was it hot or cold?

Movement below made Blue snap back to his work. With a predilection to gliding high above the layers below, Blue found his work of scouting and patrolling satisfactory. Five times he raised alarm, sending his fellow eels away from their home, just before the enemy descended, massacre and death to follow. Two generations owed their lives to Blue and his diligent surveillance.

Once Blue had tried to communicate they should fight back, yet no one joined him. The evil descended with claw and armor impossible to break or snap open. The bite of Blue and his kin was something feared by most flesh, but the enemy was
not flesh. The enemy was hard, fearless, relentless. The spiked ones scurried over the surface of the dirt, greedily slaughtering, absorbing the resources and young, the food piles and land.

Now using the shadows afforded by the large canopy pads, Blue closed in on the movement. Sure enough it was a crab scout, looking for families to feast upon later. He was close enough to stumble upon the clan. With all his speed, Blue surged downward, silent as a prayer. He looped around the scout, trying to create a swirl and lift it from the seabed. If done, a crab was much less graceful upended. The scout wanted no part of such nonsense and gripped a rock with one claw, and began lashing out with the other.

Particles clouded the area, and soon Blue could not see well enough to continue his dramatic watery acrobatics. He pulled away, out of striking distance, to watch the crab’s reaction. When the water cleared again, the crab was gone, and Blue felt the sting of apprehension inside.

Returning to the swarm, Blue tried his best to rouse them all. He had no call like the massive whale that beckoned for company. One would have to be that large to wish to draw attention to oneself in the water. Most others needed stealth not to become today’s entrée. Still it happened, and would happen. The trick was to put it off as long as possible. Clipping the ground with his might teeth, reverberations began to wake the sleeping eels. Although he could not see them, he knew eyes, deep in the green cover watch him. Urging his own family away from direction he had come, he could only set the example and flee. The sluggish young ones had no reference for urgency. Their lives had been one of patient waiting, and infrequent, yet accompanied journeys. Older ones resisted the fugue, preferring to hide, their soft bodies and slow moment no match for anything outside their homes. It was almost a sacrifice.

The soft rumble came shortly thereafter. Those who had followed Blue Streak and his family were safe, unaffected. A few apprehensive eels followed shortly thereafter. Most remained behind and died painfully when the crab army swarmed in,
took no prisoners. They worked fast, knowing somehow the blood in the water would chum it, drawing ever larger hunters to the scene.

The assaulting army’s forward flank continued to follow the trailing eels, snacking on their little one all the way. They noted the scent of more eel flesh ahead of them. Releasing the right amount of clicks, the forward soldier ordered a charge toward the additional banquet. The eels always tried to hide, and this time, getting in close was difficult. A strange web of hardened
wall protected the meal. Each warrior moved sideways, a crab specialty, and entered into the strange cavern. They plucked at their winnings, not eel, but flesh none the less. Proud crab soldiers filled the area, packing in tightly, never once considering an alternative, or the truth, this was a trap.

Panic set in when the cavern began to move, the crabs clamored for better position, but it mattered not, none escaped. Blue Streak watched with much satisfaction as they cube shaped object was pulled from the water, into the poison air above. Perhaps there was some other creature, far beyond his comprehension, having mercy on him this day.

= = = Epilogue = = =

The bravest crab warriors ever known to the planet were all displayed perfect formation, in some twisted macabre award ceremony, under the banner of Pike’s Place Fish Company. Even in death, they appeared ready to attack.