had run
out of topics for discussion. Or rather, fluX had finished outlining his latest
Proof, and the others felt disinclined to continue any form of conversation at
all. They merely gazed at the empty landscape about them, trying to avoid one
another’s eyes.
“There he is!” cried sylX, pointing
into the distance. They turned to see Chris speeding towards them on the crest
of a pulse, travelling at a phenomenal rate. One by one, they stood up and
prepared to greet him.
Just then, a movement in the
corner of their eyes caught their attention as a large object leapt out of the
ground nearby. It happened so quickly that none of them saw it clearly. But
when they turned to look they saw a small brick wall land with a thud right
across the pulseway... it stood there, about three feet high, four feet across,
solid and sturdily built... and directly in Chris’s path.
There was no time for shouts
of warning. No time for speedy action. No time even for gasps of horror. It was
over in less a second. Chris hurtled straight into the brick wall, smashing –
or rather splashing – against it with such a ferocious force that blobs of his
slime sprayed for tens of metres in each direction. The pulse bounced back off
the wall and set off back the way it had come, seemingly unaffected. The same
could not be said of Chris. His fragile, soft, viscous body stayed, for the
most part, on the wall, although parts of him lay as puddles of green slime all
about them. It was a horrible sight.
“Chris!!” sylX screamed,
grasping her head in her hands with a look of anguish on her face.
jixX and fluX stared in
horror at the green puddles which twitched and pulsated in the most disturbing
way.
“Why?” beseeched sylX,
looking about her as though searching for whoever might have been responsible
for this. She turned to jixX. “What do you think happened here?”
jixX shrugged.
“Accident or murder?” pursued
sylX.
jixX shook his head and
looked away. The mess was too horrible to look at.
sylX, too, had to turn her
tear-filled eyes away. Only the scientist, fluX, looked on, fascinated. He even
knelt down to look more closely. The stowaway, appalled at his stonehearted
callousness, had to walk a few steps away from him.
“Vait,” called the
behavioural chemist to her, waving her back. “Look! Zis is amazing. Wery, wery
astonishing. Zey are recombining!”
The stowaway stopped and
turned around.
“Come beck. Look!” continued
fluX. “Ze slime is coming beck togezzer again.”
And indeed it was. Very
slowly the puddles of green slime were moving towards one another and
coalescing. sylX wiped away her tears and came back to look as another globule
of green slime slid off the brick wall to join the rest. More and more of the
slime regrouped and reformed until, after several slow and tense minutes, it
had all formed back into the globular form of one Chris, the Mamm alien. The
three humans stared at him in sheer joy-filled disbelief as he shook his head
slowly and groggily.
“What happened?” he asked,
slightly croakily, when he felt he could speak again.
“That brick wall sprang
across the pulseway,” explained jixX, pointing, “and you smashed straight into
it.”
“That’s not what I meant,”
said Chris, sounding a bit impatient. “What happened to you three? I waited and
waited for you at the other end of the pulseway, but you didn’t come.”
“Ah, yes,” said jixX with a
nod. “We didn’t have any slime. We thought about using the stuff on the
ground... but… it had all dried up.”
“Yes, it does that,” conceded
Chris.
“What about the brick wall?”
asked sylX, still sniffing. “What made it leap across the pulseway like that?”
“A very complex mechanism,”
said Chris. “Timed to perfection.”
“You mean it was supposed to
do that?”
“Of course. How else do you
think I would have stopped?”
*
“Your turn now,” Chris said
to jixX as the brick wall gradually returned to its
out of topics for discussion. Or rather, fluX had finished outlining his latest
Proof, and the others felt disinclined to continue any form of conversation at
all. They merely gazed at the empty landscape about them, trying to avoid one
another’s eyes.
“There he is!” cried sylX, pointing
into the distance. They turned to see Chris speeding towards them on the crest
of a pulse, travelling at a phenomenal rate. One by one, they stood up and
prepared to greet him.
Just then, a movement in the
corner of their eyes caught their attention as a large object leapt out of the
ground nearby. It happened so quickly that none of them saw it clearly. But
when they turned to look they saw a small brick wall land with a thud right
across the pulseway... it stood there, about three feet high, four feet across,
solid and sturdily built... and directly in Chris’s path.
There was no time for shouts
of warning. No time for speedy action. No time even for gasps of horror. It was
over in less a second. Chris hurtled straight into the brick wall, smashing –
or rather splashing – against it with such a ferocious force that blobs of his
slime sprayed for tens of metres in each direction. The pulse bounced back off
the wall and set off back the way it had come, seemingly unaffected. The same
could not be said of Chris. His fragile, soft, viscous body stayed, for the
most part, on the wall, although parts of him lay as puddles of green slime all
about them. It was a horrible sight.
“Chris!!” sylX screamed,
grasping her head in her hands with a look of anguish on her face.
jixX and fluX stared in
horror at the green puddles which twitched and pulsated in the most disturbing
way.
“Why?” beseeched sylX,
looking about her as though searching for whoever might have been responsible
for this. She turned to jixX. “What do you think happened here?”
jixX shrugged.
“Accident or murder?” pursued
sylX.
jixX shook his head and
looked away. The mess was too horrible to look at.
sylX, too, had to turn her
tear-filled eyes away. Only the scientist, fluX, looked on, fascinated. He even
knelt down to look more closely. The stowaway, appalled at his stonehearted
callousness, had to walk a few steps away from him.
“Vait,” called the
behavioural chemist to her, waving her back. “Look! Zis is amazing. Wery, wery
astonishing. Zey are recombining!”
The stowaway stopped and
turned around.
“Come beck. Look!” continued
fluX. “Ze slime is coming beck togezzer again.”
And indeed it was. Very
slowly the puddles of green slime were moving towards one another and
coalescing. sylX wiped away her tears and came back to look as another globule
of green slime slid off the brick wall to join the rest. More and more of the
slime regrouped and reformed until, after several slow and tense minutes, it
had all formed back into the globular form of one Chris, the Mamm alien. The
three humans stared at him in sheer joy-filled disbelief as he shook his head
slowly and groggily.
“What happened?” he asked,
slightly croakily, when he felt he could speak again.
“That brick wall sprang
across the pulseway,” explained jixX, pointing, “and you smashed straight into
it.”
“That’s not what I meant,”
said Chris, sounding a bit impatient. “What happened to you three? I waited and
waited for you at the other end of the pulseway, but you didn’t come.”
“Ah, yes,” said jixX with a
nod. “We didn’t have any slime. We thought about using the stuff on the
ground... but… it had all dried up.”
“Yes, it does that,” conceded
Chris.
“What about the brick wall?”
asked sylX, still sniffing. “What made it leap across the pulseway like that?”
“A very complex mechanism,”
said Chris. “Timed to perfection.”
“You mean it was supposed to
do that?”
“Of course. How else do you
think I would have stopped?”
*
“Your turn now,” Chris said
to jixX as the brick wall gradually returned to its
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