Fauna – David Hartley

It appeared to be a dog of some sort, cut from the same design as the environment. He thought it must be another projection of light, however it was one that could move around and perform actions, much like he could, in a sense. He wondered if another pair of humans was now controlling this dog and if it too had once been a real creature, a real dog. It paced around for a while then drew a little closer to the block where Gxyrx stood watching. Then Gxyrx’s arms were raised, pointed at the dog, and the pistols flashed and banged.

The dog made a small attempt to run but was quickly felled. It lay dead for a short while before it disappeared. A moment later, so did everything else. * The hangar was silenced, darkened and reduced to its normal blank state. Gxyrx felt a thrill of excitement shoot through his brain stem. This was it; he was to be freed and could continue on with his work for the swarm.

He heard the footsteps of the humans as they left the hangar, but as the door clicked shut behind them, Gxyrx was still unable to move. His sight was still much higher in the air than normal, which meant he remained in the Lara Croft form. Why had he been left this way? He heard a voice.

“Gxyrx! What’s happening, Gxyrx?” It was his beloved sister, Gonymph! She was not yet at her second moult and yet she was clever and kind. Gxyrx tried to call out to her; “Gonymph, I am here! It is me!” But nothing sounded, nothing in his mouth moved at all. “Gxyrx, our mother and father are so worried. You have not come back from your expedition, and yet you are due to go on another very soon!

You’ve been allocated to join the Eastern Wall Quorum, but they leave in a few hours, Gxyrx. You must go with them; it is such a good opportunity for you. Our father says it is so!” And so his trail had not been discovered. Otherwise, there would be no Eastern Wall expedition; all efforts would be focused on his cavity discovery to the South and the subsequent plans for migration.

If only he could tell Gonymph!

First published September 2021 by Fly on the Wall Press Published in the UK by Fly on the Wall Press 56 High Lea Rd New Mills Derbyshire SK22 3DP www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk Copyright Dr. David Hartley © 2021 ISBN: 9781913211608 The right of Dr. David Hartley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Typesetting by Isabelle Kenyon. Cover illustration from Unsplash, McGill library. This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permissions of the publisher.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable for criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. A CIP Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Fly on the Wall Press is committed to the sustainable printing and shipping of their books. OceanofPDF.com This collection is dedicated to all the staff and volunteers at the Manchester and Salford RSPCA, and to all those people who have stepped out of their human heads to do something genuinely nice for an animal, large or small.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 8b806d05b9d64cd8
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,497,677 bytes (1.428 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781913211608
• Pages: 96
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 154.81 minutes
• Total Words: 30,963
• Total Characters: 166,523
• Average Words per Page: 322.53
• Average Characters per Page: 1734.61

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