Portumia

Chapter 4, part 2: The General and The Little Birdies

When the meeting was over, the Avianthrope went over to Serpat and told him which tunnel he should use to find Electus.

Throughout the conversation, Serpat focused on not being sarcastic, although he believed one could never trust one of his kind.

But if the general trusted the songbird, he wouldn't say anything against it.

He was to take tunnel E46-4 to get to Electus and tunnel E46-8 to get Electus through.

Serpat hurried to the tunnels and found the distribution tunnel E46.

He went down and reached the division, where he chose number 4.

As he walked for a while, he could see the sun again.

In the Homo sapiens world, there was sunshine. Just what Serpat liked.

It was just a shame he had to stay in the shade.

The Avianthrope had said that Electus was in school, and Serpat was to wait for him at his home.

But he became quite curious and took a detour past the boy's school.

Serpat looked out from the bushes into the classroom and saw a boy sitting all alone, looking out the window at some birds.

"Of course, Homo sapiens are bird lovers too," thought Serpat, trying to disappear again; he had seen enough. But as he turned around, he stepped on a branch, and the birds flew away.

Serpat's heart began to beat fast, and he looked around to see if anyone else had seen him. He spotted the boy again.

He could feel panic rising in him as the boy looked directly at him, and Serpat realized that his tail was sticking out of the bush.

The boy looked back out the window, but his teacher got his attention, and Serpat hurried away.

Serpat hurried to Electus's home and hid in the backyard. A woman came into the garden path with a bunch of bags in her arms and locked herself into the house. It must be his mother.

A little later, the boy also came into the garden, and to Serpat's surprise, it was the same boy who had spotted him earlier.

Serpat could see the two talking in the kitchen, and Electus went up to his room.

The Avianthrope had said that Electus and his mother would go to a place called "London Station," and that would be Serpat's opportunity to get him into the tunnel.

So when the two Homo sapiens left, Serpat followed all the way, being careful to stay hidden.

When they arrived at "London Station," there were a lot of Homo sapiens on the platform, and Electus and his mother pushed through them.

It was Serpat's big chance. He hurried through the crowd of Homo sapiens and got in front of Electus.

Serpat turned around and shoulder-bumped the boy, causing him to fall.

Serpat waited to see what Electus would do as he walked to the edge of the platform.

"It's almost too easy," thought Serpat. He hurried over to the boy, and just before the train came, he pushed him out onto the tracks.

When the train hit him, he would be teleported to the tunnels.

Electus landed hard on the tracks and looked around. Serpat smiled and then made eye contact with Electus.

The mission was accomplished; now he just had to get Electus to the council.