A Race well ceded
It was the perfect morning, but so was every morning for Zosix, since they all fell perfectly into his built-in definition of the morning:
morn•ing môr 'ning The first or early part of the day, lasting from midnight to noon or from sunrise to noon.
He looked around. It was the same GPUs (Graphical Perception Units) that his OSDs (Optical Sensory Devices) registered each day, when he opened his Styfroflom® eyelids after his nightly energy conversion. The room was bare, the walls were cold, the floor was clean, and Camelon lay asleep in the corner.
Camelon was on his back, his stubby legs moving back and forth in a frantic running motion, faster and faster, until he suddenly jerked awake with a start.
“They’re going to kill me!” he yelled.
“Who’s going to kill you?” asked Zosix.
“The knights!”
“The knights?”
“Yes! The Knights of Our Lady of Perpetual Brontasaurus Fellatio. They were chasing me with pitchforks and hand-axes. They were crazed, they were going to kill me, wanted to kill me…”
“Calm down, Camelon. It was just another one of your rather weird dreams. I think we should talk to Baba about this and see what he has to say. This is the third time this week you are having one of these nightmares. Who was it last time that wanted to kill you?”
“The Sisters of the Holy Second Reich”, said Camelon breaking down in tears.
“There, there.” Zosix patted his dinosaur friend on the back.
“Thanks Zosix, you’re a friend”, Camelon said, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Several fruit flies hovered around his face, and he swiped at them hatefully.
They walked through the forest, headed towards Hashmi Baba’s place. Camelon was already feeling much better with the fresh forest air and the mild morning sun. He waddled along blithely following Zosix who skipped along ahead of him.
“Let’s get some breakfast, Zosix”, Camelon suggested.
Zosix shrugged. “Alright”
Camelon ran along eagerly towards the new patch of bumble fruit that he had discovered a few days ago. Zosix followed after him. “Are you going to eat those fruits again? Aren’t you tired of them already?”
“No, they are absolutely delicious” yelled Camelon as he disappeared into the bushes.
Zosix waited, watching a few tiny bees as they hovered around in sudden jerky movements, and the phrase “as busy as a bumblebee” flashed through his multicore processor. A pair of butterflies danced from flower to flower around the bumble fruit bushes. Camelon greedily feasted upon the bumble fruit, making rather ungracious chomping noises. He could not understand what it was about the fruit, but he thought they were positively scrumptious. After a rather heady breakfast, Camelon ambled out of the bushes to where Zosix waited patiently on a rock.
“Watcha doin?” asked Camelon, as a few chewed fruit bits fell from his still stuffed mouth.
“Equations!”
Zosix stood up, and dragged his foot across what he had written in the ground with a twig. “Let’s go” he said, and the two of them ran along, leaving behind a large amount of symbols and numbers in the mud, which proved that the forces of attraction that existed between different particles could be reconciled to a singular fundamental force. Equations that unified field theorists would never see.
They strolled along the forest path. Birds chirped among the branches, insects zipped around buzzing excitedly, squirrels playfully bounded across the path, chasing each other in a high-paced game. The forest was bright and cheerful. Camelon looked down, seemingly dejected.
“What’s wrong, Camelon?” Zosix asked, sensing his friend’s mood.
“Oh, nothing,” Camelon replied, “Just wondering about my nightmares, what do you think?”
“I don’t know, I have never experienced a dream or a nightmare. I know the words only by definition. It sounds rather interesting though.”
“I can’t remember having nightmares ever before, I don’t know why now. It worries me…”
Zosix hummed, acknowledging Camelon. “How about we race till Baba’s place?”
“Well, I…” but before Camelon could finish Zosix was already running ahead, yelling “Last one there is a dung beetle!”
The two of them ran through the forest. Zosix up ahead, his Electro-Mechanical conversion cells rapidly pumping energy into the Styfroflom® muscles in his legs, and Camelon lagging behind, clumsily trying to avoid the trees and undergrowth, in an attempt to take a short cut to Baba’s.
They reached Baba’s hut, with Camelon yelling “I win! I win!” as he bounced along to an awkward halt just before the precipice beyond the hut. Camelon collapsed where he stood, he had put everything into the race and he was delighted beyond words to have outraced Zosix, who had voluntarily let his dinosaur friend beat him. Zosix came up behind him, forcing a look of exhaustion, happy to help get his friend’s mind off the nightmares.
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