Oh great. Just great. Now what am I gonna do? Just how the heel am I gonna get back? I just turned around. Those trunks, well, they attached to something all right. Something huge and dark. And they aren’t any kind of shellfish I’ve ever seen. I was right, they were buried, and some of them, hell, damn near all the ones I’ve strolled past, are either out of or are just now pulling themselves up out of the sand. There’s no analogue to any earth creature I can use to describe them. The closest ones are green, probably due to the ambient light. The trunks are attached to a long, sloping head. No eyes. There’s no neck either. The bodies are barrel shaped, with a stumpy arm-like appendence on either side. The opposite end is a flattened wedge. A flipper maybe? They’re all about the same height. They’re all lining up…hey! The sand is bulging up near here. Gotta go. I’m retreating back towards the wall. There’s a tunnel opening nearby that I’m going to climb into for now. All these creatures are waking up or something. For all I know it’s dinnertime. I do not want to be around for that.
I’m at the new tunnel now, well away from the emerging creatures. All the ones I can see are out or are on their way out of the surf. It’s almost dark now. I’ve switched my light back on. Wonder if they’ll notice that…
Except for my light, it’s almost completely dark. I can see just a couple of the creatures now. There’s an arrhythmic bleating noise coming from up and down the beach. It’s low and drawn out, the various creatures beginning and ending their particular portion at different times. The whole thing is quite the cacophony. If I’m not mistaken, those sounds are directed towards the sea. I’ll bet it really carries, as sound tends to do that over open water.
It’s been going on for quite some time now…I really haven’t kept track of exactly how long. The darkness was very brief to my surprise. Surprise is comes to me very frequently of late. A new color—red—has replaced the black. It has cast everything in a hellish glow. If it’s possible, it all appears even more alien than before.
On the other hand, The bleating sounds haven’t been all that unpleasant. A little while ago I was actually almost lulled to sleep by it. But the thought of sleeping within such a short distance between myself and this unknown snapped me back to wakefulness. Ever since then I have been standing in the relative safety of the tunnel entrance, ready to bolt if there is the slightest trouble. But I have yet to be noticed, the creatures’ low soundings towards the alien sea their one and only task. And now I think I’ve started to discover the fruits of their labor. There have been return bleating from the sea. Deeper, more urgent. The new sounds come from beyond the horizon. Something huge, I picture in my mind’s eye. A breaching whale. But an altogether different kind of whale. This one has a sloping head, odd forelimbs and a protruding trunk-like breathing tube.
I wasn’t too far off. I know because they’re here now. It’s crossed into view. To see it from so far off it must be truly monstrous. Like a mountain moving in the sea. It’s also incredibly fast. What I assume is its head forms a chain of rounded peaks that has symmetry like a jagged crown. It must be just a matter of minutes before they get here. I have the urge to run now. I don’t know if I want to be here. I can drop another beacon right here and take my chances on this new tunnel. It’s just the flight or flight instinct kicking on it that reptilian part of my brain. But I’m the naked ape now, and I can make that ancient decision when I want to now. Instinct be damned.
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