Bob's hands stung. The way down was basically a rock climbing wall, but less fun. There were pegs here and there for holding onto as one climbed up or down the wall, but there was no safety harness or anything. At one point, Bob had misjudged a foothold, lost his balance, and skidded part-way down the wall, his hands constantly grasping for SOMETHING to hold onto. He did finally grab a sturdy enough peg, after thoroughly scraping the crap out of his hands on the wall itself. This was NOT how he imagined dying.
"HELPU MIN!" Bob demanded, clutching two pegs for dear life, unable to move himself another inch. "SOMEONE? CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME A RIDE DOWN?"
It felt like an eternity. Bob sat there, aware of his palms perspiring, his legs shaking. Surely he was about to die. This was it. And no beneficiary for his life insurance! It was insurance through the government and, for an agent like him, it was pretty much the best life insurance you could get.
He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned against the wall, its cool stone surface quickly turning warm from his touch. His hands were burning, sore, and moist. His head was pounding. His heart racing. His butt clenched. Then something whizzed past him in a feathery fury. He was caught off guard and fumbled his grip, slipping once again, and this time falling backwards away from the wall.
FFFFUUUUU---
He stared up at the quickly shrinking ceiling. In that eternity he debated with himself whether it would be better to keep his eyes open or shut them. Whether to try to twist in the air to face the ground, or keep facing the ceiling. Or maybe if he landed on his feet he could narrowly survive? He imagined an appropriate soundtrack to his demise. Probably something with piano, very dramatic, maybe a woman's voice ringing on top of the melody. Mournful.
But then the thud he felt wasn't what he had expected. It was soft, downy, even, and the ceiling continued shrinking but at a slower pace. He had landed on the same Porp that had made him lose his grip.
YOU ARE READING
Space Agent Bob on the Planet of Birds
Fiksi IlmiahBob is contacted by his boss, Mr. Potato, while out in deep space, still doing his paperwork from the LAST mission. Bob was to go to planet Florpin, a planet of bird-like aliens, and track down an outlaw.
