Nora stood at the mouth of the cave, hesitance radiating from every inch of her body.
They had come a long way, and their quest was nearly over. She should have felt relieved. So why did she have such a deep sense of foreboding…?
“I’m still not sure why I have to go in there. Why can’t you do it?”
The Genius, who up until this moment had his nose buried in some machine or another, shot up like a rocket and turned to Nora.
“Me? No, I couldn’t possibly! I’m needed out here, to do scientific things!” The Genius smiled, almost apologetically. His eyes were still on the machine. “Triangulations and calculations and various other types of -ations that couldn’t possibly be trusted to a layman. No offense intended.”
“None taken”, Nora replied, turning up the sarcasm so that even The Genius could pick up on it.
The Genius fixed his gaze on Nora, his eyes of indeterminate color grave and yet, also kind.
He put what he intended to be a comforting hand on Nora’s shoulder, but the gesture came off all wrong, almost condescending. He wasn’t good at these things, and they both knew it. Still, Nora appreciated the effort.
“Look, there’s no one in the world I could trust with such an important mission. I have complete and total faith in you, Nora Raymond Bender… the only question is, do you have faith in yourself?”
Deep down, there was a part of Nora that suspected she did not. But what had to be done, had to be done. The world was in danger.
Self doubt would have to wait…
Nora gave the tiniest of nods.
The Genius smiled. “Excellent! Now, your task is really very simple! You just go in and retrieve the crystal at the base of the Vorloda Shrine. I will be out here, monitoring your progress as you go, and you will be perfectly safe, I promise! Also, beware of Cluster Lizards! Good luck!”
There was a momentary silence, as Nora replayed the conversation in her head.
“Could you repeat that?”
“I said, beware of Cluster Lizards”, he repeated, in that overly casual tone which had become so maddeningly familiar.
“Yes, I heard you; what the hell is a Cluster Lizard?”
“Well, if you heard me, then why must I repeat myself? Is this another of your human quirks of language? I know eight hundred and forty six languages and you Earthlings are by far the– well, never mind, you’re a young species, you’ll learn. Now, then: Cluster Lizards. I don’t see– Oh! Do you not have those on your planet? I thought you did! I swear, I really should start taking more careful notes on these sorts of things–”
“Yes, you certainly should!”
The Genius was quick to note the tone of genuine anger in Nora’s voice. He adjusted his approach accordingly.
“Yes! Well… Cluster Lizards are like regular lizards, only… bigger. Or, if you prefer, they’re like dragons, only smaller. The point, mind you, is that they’re very deadly. Hence, beware of them!”
“You didn’t say anything about Cluster Lizards earlier!”
“Yes, well… I didn’t want you to worry…”
(CONTINUED…)
Pryorball. 