Polies
Clair was the tenth generation of humans on the planet. They had colonized immediately after finding that it would sustain their form of life. There was water, but it was deep inside the crust. So they dug and built a vast system of tunnels with solar powered lighting provided by stations at the surface.
The tunnels lead to big greenhouses that grew any kind of grain, vegetable or fruit necessarily for their diets. The kitchens were staffed by chefs who provided optimum nutrition for the 50,000 people who were transplanted there. The community was fully sustainable. Families had five to 10 rooms living spaces and singles had at least three. The greenhouses also provided a large variety of house plants which provided extra oxygen. Huge fans at the surface would draw in the air, clean it and send it to the occupants below.
The air was breathable above. It was only slightly different from the Earth’s, and it wasn’t harmful to humans. The crust of the planet was dry and dusty. What used to be mountains were now just hills. The constant dry winds and breezes had eroded them. There were huge dry valleys that were once oceans and lakes, and then dried up into stagnant ponds and puddles. The sky was a constant lavender color. This galaxy’s sun was a gleaming silver tone. Seven moons orbited and were visible at times of day and night. They had never named the planet. The government wanted all space travelers to refer to their respective planets as home.
Clair was running toward the elevator doors, that lead to the tunnels below. The creatures were chasing her. Her ancestors had discovered them shortly after arriving. Although they were mostly lazy in the heat and dry of the planet, they feasted on whatever living things that they crossed paths with. They could run fast with ten legs. The rolie-polies had first been mistaken for very round rocks. A savvy scientist had poked one with his walking stick and it awakened by unrolling onto it’s back and then flipping over.
The rolie-polies came in various fully grown sizes. From two to 12 feet in length. They were shades of green, but always had pink eyes. It was theorized that they could see you from a mile, as the lenses of their eyes were telescopic. Their heads were lizard shaped and their mouths had thousands of long narrow razor sharp teeth. Their bodies were covered with an armor of bone that looked exactly like rock, and as it aged the bone took on a desert varnish patina. Only their undersides were vulnerable, and the flesh was a bright pink like their eyes.
Clair could hear the rolie-polies gaining on her. She needed to get to the elevator doors before they did. Then she’d be safe. She needed to see, how much time she had, so she held her breath and stopped. Then she turned around and saw a cloud of dust and polies at the front about 1000 yards away. The little ones were fastest. They were in front of the rest. She closed her eyes, turned back around, and let out her breath. She told herself aloud, “I can make it, but next time, I have to be way ahead! I am not going to play this game with them anymore!”.
Her lungs were hurting and legs aching, but she ran faster. She got to the elevator doors, and pushed the button to bring her’s up. “Come on, Come on! Hurry!”, she shouted as she shook her hands in anticipation. Finally the door opened. She hopped in and pushed the button. The door closed. Then she pushed a button on the panel that opened the solid doors and left a cage door that she could see out of.
She was running out of time! Quickly she pushed three more buttons on the panel to get the polie elevator open to the left of her car. “Could I have left it down there? No! Here it is.”. The big doors opened into the polie elevator. “Their here!”, she thought. “Timing is everything.”. Just then the little polies scattered around the sides of Clair’s car and the corral and kept running. The larger polies ran straight into the box. Clair pushed the button that was marked “Rapid Close” on the panel. “Ten of um!”, she thought.
She pushed the buttons to start the elevator’s decent. On the way she thought about how good the meat would taste in her famous stew. Oh, and Hank’s barbeque. The list of recipes was endless. “Meat at last! Mission accomplished!”.
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